The Youth Vote - Rolling Stone
Check out the current issue of "Rolling Stone" magazine, dated November 11, 2004. It has a very sensitive, thoughtful looking John Kerry on the cover. The entire issue is a homage to JFK the Second.
One article, by Jann S. Wenner, begins "Our current leadership seems to have lost its way and its moral compass. Dishonesty has become a national policy. We have been asked to debase our Constitution for political purposes, to enshrine bigotry and to take away fundamental rights from Americans. We have abandoned scientific and medical research, bowing to narrow religious beliefs. We have handed over more of our national wealth to the rich and taken it from the poor and the workingman. We have gone to war for reasons that have been proved wrong, and we have sanctioned torture as acceptable policy. We must not make war on other nations because we think we hear God telling us who is evil. We must not unleash the terror of war-death and destruction and the inevitable murder of innocents - as if it were some God given right."
In another article, by Tim Dickinson, it notes; "Iraq - and the specter of a renewed draft - also appears to be sparking youth-voter engagement. Despite frequent disavowals from the administration, fifty-one percent of young people believe that President Bush wants to reinstate the draft. "When you look at the last time that fifty percent of this age group turned out, it was around the Vietnam War," says Greene."
A third article, by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson has many comments as outlandish as this one; "Every GOP administration since 1952 has let the Military-Industrial Complex loot the treasury and plunge the nation into debt on the excuse of a wartime economic emergency. Richard Nixon comes quickly to mind, along with Ronald Reagan and his ridiculous "trickle-down" theory of U.S. economic policy. If the Rich get Richer, the theory goes, before long their pots will overflow and somehow "trickle down" to the poor, who would rather eat scraps off the Bush family plates than eat nothing at all. Republicans have never approved of democracy, and they never will. It goes back to preindustrial America, when only white male property owners could vote."
The issue boasts a Rolling Stone Poll of their readers. It is not too surprising that 17.7% of the readers would vote for Bush and 74.0%, for Kerry. The poll also asks, "Which of the following sources do you trust completely when it comes to information about the election?" The response to this question is startling!
Bruce Springsteen and the Vote for Change Tour 18.9%
Presidential Debates 13.8%
MoveOn.org 13.6%
Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11 12.9%
Major-network news 4.8%
Daily newspapers 4.5%
Fox News 4.1%
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 1.5%
It is stunning to me that the readers of "Rolling Stone" find Bruce Springsteen to be a more trusting source of information than 300 decorated Vietnam veterans and POW's. They trust Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11, more than TV news and newspapers!!!
When asked "What is the most important action we should take in Iraq?" The number one response is "Bring in more allies", at 44.1%. Sound familiar?
This is scary!