Lucia

de Vernai

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November 5, 2007

Inspiring Young Voters: It Has to Start With Parents

Like mother like daughter, like father like son. The great irony of becoming your parents is that it happens sooner than you think. I’m saying this as a member of generation Y, not a social scientist. It may take some of us a while longer to put two and two together, but everyone has an “Oh, no! I’ve become my mother!” moment.

Contrary to what you may think, it doesn’t just take place when your son notices his receding hairline or your daughter buys her ninth pair of silver stud earrings. Sometimes it happens at election time.

You’ve undoubtedly taught your children to make the right choices – refrain from underage drinking, stay way from drugs, do not have unprotected sex, floss regularly. What did you teach them about civic participation?

I don’t mean passing on your opinions on everything from gay marriage, separation of church and state and the war. I mean the non-partisan obligation to show up at the voting place and do their duty. That’s your responsibility, not Steven Colbert’s.

In 2008, people under 25 will make up a quarter of the electorate. By 2015 we are predicted to be a third of the voter population. But don’t pat yourself on the back yet. These numbers show that you created more taxpayers, not voters.

Don’t expect help from the government. Tax money is good, vigilant voters . . . well, they have to cut corners on something. If a fraction of the money that goes into Ad Council ads and DARE stickers went into civic responsibility training, we’d have a revolution.

There is sufficient proof that young adults want to know about and be involved in politics. The popularity of comedy news programs cannot be attributed to humor alone – there are plenty of comedians who can deliver the laughs talking about sex, drugs, race and excrement – but they draw at least a million viewers daily.

At any given moment, there are thousands of students across the country whose hands are covered with band-aids from paper cuts they received from fliers posted around campus between classes and from spending their Saturday mornings canvassing – and that’s just the beginning.

Now the demographic is getting ready for 2008. The internationally publicized daily news site Scoop08.com is designed for young people by young people. The creators, Alexander Heffner and Andrew Mangino, are not old enough to vote and to drink, respectively. But besides making the rest of us aspiring political wonks feel utterly unaccomplished, Heffner and Mangino may be only the beginning.

Provided the site does well, it has potential to bring young voters together. This may be a great boost for established young voter mobilization groups like Rock the Vote. Although impressively successful in voter registration, even hoodies and Diddy cannot make up for the lack of a broad, focused network.

The education of citizens should not begin at 17 when suddenly they receive a phonebook’s worth of paper telling them to “Vote or Die.” All the glitter and U2 songs money can buy cannot make up for the lack of parent-instilled civic values. Grassroots political action increasingly depends on young voters, and if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, they depend on you as the parent too.

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