Thanks for showing up, Gen Y (really.)
This post was originally going to be titled: "Hey Gen Y - Where the fuck were ya?" based on virtually all of the reporting I've seen so far. What you haven't heard is this - 18 to 29 year olds showed up in droves - 21 Million of you. Unfortunately, everyone else showed up big too so the impressiveness of this got lost in the shuffle.
I spent a lot of time before this election going door to door canvassing and talking to young voters in Wisconsin. They obviously had been heavily harassed and were all going through election fatigue, but they promised that they were going out to vote. And I got worried because it sounded like me as an eight year old promising that I'd get around to cleaning my room. Mom can tell you how well that worked.
When I watched CNN report that turnout hadn't increased from the last cycle, it had me fuming. "Listen, you dull obediant little sheep! What does Dubya have to do to make you care about this? Does he have to personally sign your draft notice? Start another war? He's done nothing about Social Security, which is set to expire the exact year that I turn 65. You're going to pay into it your whole life and get shafted. Listen up--I know that the only baby boomer you know is that psych professor with the tweed jacket with the patches on the shoulder. He's with us. You need to hear about the rest of them from someone in Corporate America since 1993. I've been swimming behind that garbage barge of a generation for the last dozen years. They're the "ME" generation. They only care about themselves, and they're going to push us around until we push back. How hard is it to take half an your, put down Grand Theft Auto and the bong and go to vote?"
Then I read this article from Michael Moore. I owe you all an apology. You did show up, and it's the first election for most of you, which means that most of you needed to register and vote. Well done.
So seriously, thanks to everyone who voted - you tried to change things, and you voted overwhelmingly for Kerry. Now if we could just get the So Called Liberal Media to show you some respect.
I spent a lot of time before this election going door to door canvassing and talking to young voters in Wisconsin. They obviously had been heavily harassed and were all going through election fatigue, but they promised that they were going out to vote. And I got worried because it sounded like me as an eight year old promising that I'd get around to cleaning my room. Mom can tell you how well that worked.
When I watched CNN report that turnout hadn't increased from the last cycle, it had me fuming. "Listen, you dull obediant little sheep! What does Dubya have to do to make you care about this? Does he have to personally sign your draft notice? Start another war? He's done nothing about Social Security, which is set to expire the exact year that I turn 65. You're going to pay into it your whole life and get shafted. Listen up--I know that the only baby boomer you know is that psych professor with the tweed jacket with the patches on the shoulder. He's with us. You need to hear about the rest of them from someone in Corporate America since 1993. I've been swimming behind that garbage barge of a generation for the last dozen years. They're the "ME" generation. They only care about themselves, and they're going to push us around until we push back. How hard is it to take half an your, put down Grand Theft Auto and the bong and go to vote?"
Then I read this article from Michael Moore. I owe you all an apology. You did show up, and it's the first election for most of you, which means that most of you needed to register and vote. Well done.
So seriously, thanks to everyone who voted - you tried to change things, and you voted overwhelmingly for Kerry. Now if we could just get the So Called Liberal Media to show you some respect.
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