DON'T VOTE if you are not educated about the issues at hand or the particular candidates. It's that simple. While many claim that it is the duty of American citizens to vote, it is first and foremost Americans' duty to stay away from the polling booth if they have no idea about what is going on in the country and the world. "Rock the Vote," an organization dedicated to register young voters and increase voter turnout, has been popularized by MTV over the last few years.However, the organization demeans democracy by promoting uneducated voting and providing people with intensely biased information about specific issues via its Web site.
With 7up, Doritos, Sunkist and Ben & Jerry's listed as corporate partners, one would think that they were on the Harris Teeter Web site rather than a voting Web site. What do these corporations and others such as Hot Topic have anything to do with "rocking the vote?" An organization such as Rock the Vote should not have any corporations sponsor it. That could lead to conflicts of interest over how information is portrayed since these corporations most definitely benefit based on which party holds office.
The Web site asks, "Why Vote?" and then offers a variety of topics and facts as to why a person should vote this November. While this may seem to educate people about topics, the facts are so biased and the liberal take on all of the issues is so flagrant that "Rock the (Democratic) Vote" might be a more appropriate title for the organization. Perhaps the "I Hate George Bush and My Parents" T-shirt sold at Hot Topic has something to do with Rock the Vote's liberal bias.
Under the section pertaining to Iraq, the Web site addresses as its only facts the 3,000 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq, the $300 billion cost of the war, the high number of Iraqi casualties and Iraq's instability as a country. Rather than encouraging young voters to become more educated, the campaign is instead rocking the Democrats into office with a smear campaign against the war in Iraq by providing biased information that only educates people the way they want them to be educated.
Global warming is also an issue that the Web site touches on, and it is not surprising that rather than stating that global warming is only a theory that may be entirely and utterly wrong (like the global cooling theory of the 1970's) the campaign lists ocean levels rising 20 feet, and "severe droughts." It goes on to say that "[Global warming] may also affect the frequency and intensity of other severe weather, such as storms, hurricanes, and floods." The Web site, feigning non-partisanship, states that, "Debate exists in the scientific community as to how much this is a result of human activity, and how much it is the result of a natural phenomenon -- but there is no debate about whether it is happening." Considering the article "There is No Global Warming" on the American Policy Center's Web site, I find it difficult to conceive that "there is no debate." Rock the Vote clearly takes the liberal standpoint again here with global warming, and its sorry attempts at non-partisanship only catch them up in a lie about global warming.
In reference to the rising costs of higher education, Rock the Vote references, "the Deficit Reduction Act, which cut $12 billion in federal student aid money," passed by (a Republican) Congress in December of 2005. They also cite the fact that over the past five years, the cost of education has skyrocketed. While these facts might at first seem politically neutral, the insinuation that "over the last five years" directly correlates to George Bush's presidency and the fact that a Republican congress passed the Deficit Reduction Act clearly martyrs a democratic cause by filling its own political agenda under the guise of increasing voting attendance.
Other completely non-partisan ideas such as, "Politicians who aren't busy denouncing sex in the media, are busy opposing marriage for same-sex couples, even promising to write this bigotry into the U.S. Constitution" litter the Web site along with statements such as "16 million 18-30 year olds have no healthcare and are twice as likely as their parents to be uninsured," and "free speech, free thought, free expression are under attack in America while, ironically, young patriotic Americans are dying for freedom in Iraq." It is disgusting that Rock the Vote is attempting to sway voters to the left side of the political spectrum while pretending to intend only to increase voter turnout. Only those who are truly educated about both sides of an issue should vote on that issue, and scams such as Rock the Vote only promote ignorance in the minds of today's youth while simultaneously promoting partisan ignorance at the polls.
Greg Crapanzano's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at gcrapanzaon@cavalierdaily.com.
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