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College students facing heavy debt, unemployment
October 26th, 2010
It’s no wonder many young people list college affordability as one of their top issues.
A report released last week by Project Student Debt, found that college students nationwide carried an average of $24,000 in student loan debt in 2009. This figure is up 6% from 2008 and an increasingly tough job market isn’t making things any easier.
The report also found that unemployment for recent college graduates is up from 5.8% in 2008 to 8.7% in 2009. Project Student Debt notes that while the 6% increase is similar to the average increase over the past four years, the unemployment number is the highest annual rate on record for college graduates aged 20 to 24. You can see more details on student debt in your specific state by clicking here.
Numbers like these can be discouraging to college students, but it’s important to remember that your vote can affect college affordability and job creation. If you’re concerned about paying for college and getting a job afterward, do some research on your local candidates and see where they stand on these issues. Then vote to let them know where you stand.
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Back off My Coverage
October 6th, 2010
By Aaron Smith, Young Invincibles
On November 2 of this year, we will line up at local schools, churches and post offices to once again cast our vote. We are voting for the person who will most effectively represent us – the person who will use their knowledge and wisdom to do what is right in the halls of Congress. These elected officials will be charged with making decisions that will deeply impact our daily lives, from our schools to our health care to our soldiers fighting overseas.
Last March, our elected officials in Congress worked hard to pass a health care law that directly benefits millions of young adults. Right now, because of reform, over 2 million of us will be able to gain coverage by staying on our parent’s insurance to age 26, and millions more will be protected from insurance companies that want to drop us when we get sick. This new health care law is not a cure-all, but it goes a long way to getting our generation covered.
However, opponents of health care reform are vowing to “repeal and replace” this historic law. But young people can’t let that happen. Health care is too important to be repealed.
We are pledging to defend health care. We are pledging to vote in November so that young voices are heard and continue to be heard. We can get covered now. They can’t take that away from us.
Take the pledge and Vote Again in 2010.
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Voto Latino activates young dreamers
September 30th, 2010
For the National Week of Action, Voto Latino and friends have launched Vote4Me, which mobilizes advocates of the DREAM Act to register young voters.
The DREAM Act (The Development, Relief & Education for Alien Minors Act) provides a pathway to citizenship for children who came here undocumented by either serving in the military or attending college and keeping good standing in both.
In partnership with the United We DREAM Network, the Generational Alliance, and Vote Again 2010 partner the United States Student Association (USSA), the Vote4Me campaign enlists DREAM Activists to register their friends and family who are eligible to vote but have yet to exercise that right. Vote4Me organizers are spreading the word via their organizational networks and online platforms—estimated to reach a total of three to five million young people.
Visit Vote4Me on Facebook to find out more about the organizations behind it, registering to vote, and the DREAM Act.
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Do it for Gaga
September 20th, 2010
Last week, Campus Progress made some waves with a submission to the Vote Again 2010 video contest, “Vote Again 2010: Do it for Bieber,” a satirical video intended to raise awareness about the importance of voting in the midterm elections.
Around the same time, on the other side of the country, Ellie and Lauren, two students from The University of Colorado, documented the process of calling Senator Bennett to ask him to support the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. To their surprise, Senator Bennett responded with a video of his own thanking them for their calls and pledging to vote to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
This week, Ellie and Lauren are back with their own submission to the Vote Again 2010 video contest, “Vote Again 2010: Do it for Gaga.” The Lady herself has been very active in speaking out against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: she released a video message last week to the Senate, and is planning to attend a rally today in Maine with the Servicemens’ Legal Defense Network to press Senators Snowe and Collins to come out against the policy.
In their new video, Ellie and Lauren call for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and also target The Defense of Marriage Act. As the girls explain in the video, voting “gives us a chance to stand up for equality by controlling who represents us.” They call on young people to visit http://www.voteagain2010.com to register to vote and to Vote Again in 2010, because in Lady Gaga’s words, “that’s when the change happens.”
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From Justin Bieber to Van Jones
September 16th, 2010
By Sara Haile-Mariam, Campus Progress
The only thing more hilarious than our “Do It For Bieber” video (which we thought was pretty funny) was the media reaction to it.
Last week, Campus Progress released our submission to the Vote Again 2010 video contest, “Vote Again 2010: Do it for Bieber,”– and let me tell you, it gave the media the best kind of fever ever — “Bieber Fever.” See the video here:
The submission attracted a lot of buzz— Politico, Vanity Fair and Wonkette featured it in light-hearted articles, The Washington Post reprimanded us for creating “the worst political ad ever” (an honor already awarded to us by The Washington Examiner for a midterm video that featured Zombies), and the video has been discussed by MSNBC, Fox and Friends, and even by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show.
In addition to the more light hearted feedback, we’ve also been accused of running an unethical campaign, trying to manipulate 12 year olds, and using an innocent 16 year old to brainwash America.
I just want to make sure we’ve got this straight; Campus Progress created a satirical nonpartisan video—“Yes We Can” without the celebrities or the singing (you’re welcome), intended to encourage civic participation and draw awareness to a midterms knowing that they typically see a decrease in voter turnout. Somehow or other that amounts to not only doing something shady but unethical? What I don’t understand is, Bieber or not, what’s so objectionable about encouraging each other to vote?
There’s an unprecedented midterm election campaign being orchestrated by 30 youth organizations and media partners called Vote Again 2010. The purpose of the site is to raise awareness around the elections through creative (and evidently controversial) content and to serve as a clearing house for everything related to the midterms and the youth vote. As a part of the effort, we launched a video contest asking you to articulate why you’re voting again in 2010 or to explain why young people should vote again 2010. Van Jones sat down with Campus Progress and gave us his take, and let me tell you, Justin Bieber had nothing to do with it.
The point is this. While our Bieber video was satirical, the underlying message is no laughing matter. While members of Congress may have the power to vote for or against legislation, we have the power to vote for or against every one of them. There’s a lot at stake this November 2nd whether you’re voting for Bieber, energy reform, immigration reform, LGBT equality, or job creation. Election Day is our day, and it gives us an opportunity to make ourselves heard and have the last laugh.
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Why Voto Latino is Voting Again in 2010
September 15th, 2010
Vote Again 2010 partner Voto Latino, in collaboration with television network Mun2, recently brought together some serious star power to call for “a united voice that can address our country’s toughest problems.” The public service announcement, part of Voto Latino’s United We Win campaign, features stars like Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba warning against the prospect of other states adopting legislation similar to Arizona’s SB 1070.
As the video points out, in order to have our voices heard on this and other issues, we must vote this November 2nd. Members of Congress may have the power to vote for or against legislation, but we have the power to vote for or against every one of them. Check out their PSA, register to vote, and if you’re feeling creative submit your own video to The Vote Again Video Contest!
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Answering the call
September 9th, 2010
The Seattle Times editorial page is “Calling all young voters to get re-engaged with politics.”
The piece points out that young voters in particular have been hit hard by the struggling economy:
“Economic issues pressing down on every age group directly affect younger voters. Just ask college students who arrive at graduation with high hopes and anticipation only to discover jobs are not there. Quite the contrary. Many highly qualified candidates are finding it difficult to even get a response to a lengthy application, much less land the elusive job.”
While times may be tough, our votes this fall will determine the economic policymakers of the future. This November 2nd we must respond to this and other calls to action, especially those that question young people’s enthusiasm for voting again 2010. Let’s show them there’s no need to get “re-engaged” with politics – let’s show them we’ve been paying attention all along.
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Can You Hear Us Now?: ReEnergizing the Vote
August 27th, 2010
By Jeff Mann, ReEnergize The Vote
Politicians pay attention to people who vote. In 2008 – when young people got involved like never before and a record 22 million of us showed up at the voting booth – we got their attention. Candidates from both parties talked to us about our issues on our campuses and in our communities.
The last decade has been a turning point for our generation. Every cycle we’ve stood up and turned out- showing our leaders we could be a real political force in this country.
In 2010, we can prove that this is no short term investment. We’re here for the long hall.
By turning out in record numbers again this year, we can show decision makers that we are still engaged, still powerful, and still serious about changing our country for the better.
That’s why the Sierra Student Coalition and our allies across the country launched the ReEnergize the Vote campaign. Between now and November 2, we will be registering and mobilizing young voters to make their voices heard in the 2010 elections.
If you’d like to get involved, you can start by signing our Pledge to Vote and letting us know what the issues are that matter to you.
Whatever those issues are – whether you are concerned about America’s energy policies, or quality and affordable education, or health care, or just want to get a good job when you graduate – the issues you care about are at stake November 2nd.
2010 is a critical test for our generation. While we’ve been turning out to the polls, election after election, for the last decade- the fact remains that our country is at a cross roads, and if we’re going to address the issues young people face we can’t quit now. This year we have a chance to build real political power and demand a voice in the decisions that will shape our future.
Progress is a process. Ultimately, who we elect matters and elected officials listen to people who vote. It’s time for us to vote again in 2010.
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An Electoral Force
August 24th, 2010
Reporting for Campus Progress, Julissa Treviño takes an in-depth look at the challenges facing both candidates and advocacy groups in getting out the Latino vote in 2010 (read the piece here). Her reporting suggests that young latinos in particular are quickly becoming an electoral force to be reckoned with and that issues like immigration reform weigh heavily on how they cast their ballots.
“In Texas, 31 percent of Hispanic eligible voters are 18 to 29 years old. These young Latinos are on their way to becoming the majority demographic overall among Texas Latino voters, a position that is currently held by 30- to 44-year-old Latinos. “Couple these numbers with the fact that Latino voters comprise almost 40 percent of eligible Texas Democratic voters,” wrote Marisa Treviño for Spot On in 2008. “It’s an implication that deserves attention.”She describes how one issue may shape the way Democrats and Republicans campaign to Latinos throughout the country, but especially in states like Texas and California, where the Latino vote could have a huge influence this fall.”
Here at Vote Again 2010- we know this much: While members of Congress may have the power to vote for or against legislation, we have the power to vote for or against everyone of them.
Take a stance, and bring it with you to the ballot box when you vote again in 2010.
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So You Think You Can Vote?
August 10th, 2010
Clair Whitmer, Youth Vote Overseas
What does it mean to be a U.S. citizen? You probably would answer that it comes with a birth certificate, a passport, the right to work and the right to vote.
Yet, for some citizens, this last right isn’t always automatically granted.
Many Americans born and living outside the U.S. are legally considered to be American citizens: they carry American passports, file American taxes, and young men must register with the Selective Service. But they don’t all have the right to vote.
Why? The right to vote is based on your residency in a state, not on your citizenship. Our courts have continuously expanded the franchise and struck down exclusionary laws. The state residency requirement is maintained for logistical reasons, not to exclude anyone. But it’s still preventing many young Americans who live overseas from participating in the democratic process.
If your parents lived permanently overseas and you’ve lived overseas your whole life, only 18 states will currently allow you to register to vote (using one of your parents’ voting addresses. Your parents retain their right to vote no matter how long they live outside the U.S.)
We at Youth Vote Overseas (YVO yvo.overseasvotefoundation.org) think this flies in the face of what most Americans believe is a fundamental right and responsibility of citizenship. If it doesn’t come with the right to vote, well, what’s the point?
Young expat citizens are being taught a confusing lesson by laws in those remaining 32 states: you can have a passport and still be unable to vote until you move stateside.
Well, we believe there only should be one kind of American citizen, the voting kind.
Proposed legislation that would correct this situation is moving closer to reality: the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA) includes a provision that would grant the right to vote to “non-domiciled citizens”.
The Uniform Law Commission (ULC), a volunteer body that drafts legislation on issues that affect all states “uniformly”, has just approved a final draft of this law. The ULC then proposes these laws to state legislatures, which must then individually approve them. Those states that approve a law then share a legal framework that applies to all their combined populations — even if all 50 states don’t give it a thumbs-up.
At YVO, we want young voters to take it seriously when we tell them that being an American citizen means exercising their voting rights – your state would send that message if it passed this law.
Want to know if your state grants the right to vote to all overseas citizens? Check out our Help Desk for the answer.
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Oil Spill Decimating Mermaid Population
August 10th, 2010
Comedian Lee Camp does what the media refuses to do. Cover the ramifications of the Oil Spill on our nation’s endangered mermaid population. Click for the video and to come a way to a whole crude world.
I can show you a crude world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me Gulf Coast,
Now when did you last let BP decide?
They can cover your coasts
Bend you over and plunder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic oil boat
A whole crude world
A new fantastic place to drill
No one to tell them no, or where to go
Or regulate them
A whole crude world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I’m way out here, it’s crystal clear…
Well, not really crystal clear. It’s more of a murky brown color
Unbelievable spill
Flowing onward forever
But the birds and fish aren’t clever
They get stuck and they die
A whole crude world
They won’t stop till they’ve killed us all
Dead dolphins and dead whales
It’s such a fail, the little children covered in the crude
I’m like a diesel car
I’ve come so far
I can’t go back to where I used to be
They’ll chase oil anywhere
There’s no time to spare
Let them share this whole crude world with you
Unbelievable spill
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History, Repeating
July 13th, 2010
By Emily Goulding, Voto Latino
American Latinos are new to some parts of the U.S. Like Iowa. Or Wisconsin.
But in certain parts of the U.S. – like California, Arizona, and Texas – we aren’t new at all. And neither is legislation like SB 1070.
Although it is currently being challenged by the Department of Justice, and organizations like Voto Latino have been speaking out against it since April, SB 1070 is unfortunately just one of many iterations of divisive legislation aimed at a demographic that politicians think either isn’t voting, or at least isn’t voting every time.
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, law enforcement carried out “the Mexican Repatriation Act” in the Southwest, which much like SB 1070 claimed to enforce immigration law but instead only violated constitutional law. In Mexican-American neighborhoods, police attempted to identify undocumented immigrants by rounding up people who “looked mestizo”, and deported them with no due process. 60% of those deported were American citizens; Tuscon-born Lalo Guerrero, the father of Chicano music, was one of them.
In the 1950’s, Ike Eisenhower enacted “Operation Wetback”, which consisted of police raids and deportation, and in the 1990’s, former Governor of California Pete Wilson signed Proposition 187, which sought to establish a citizenship ‘screening system’ in order to determine which Californians could use public services.
Proposition 187 instigated reels of copy-cat legislation in 12 different states, and a lawsuit from MALDEF and the ACLU.
Sound familiar?
It should. Latinos lived through all those decades. And had every last one of us voted in those decades, this blog post might have told a different story.
And now maybe our grandparents didn’t vote in decades past due to intimidation at the polls. But today, we know how to call people out for that – hey, even take people to court for that!
So vote every time.
If politicians know that we’re voting, and that our vote can sway electoral outcomes, they are less likely to keep passing laws like these. In the past ten years, the number of Latino voters has increased 64 percent, from 5.9 million to 9.7 million voters. During the same time period, the number of general population voters increased only 16 percent. One out of five millennial Americans is Latino, and fifty thousand of us turn turn 18 each month – we have power in numbers, so let’s exercise it.
As Woody Guthrie sang in the 1930’s and Lila Downs adapted for a 2001 recording, “This land is your land, and my land, and your land/From California, to the New York Islands.”
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise – this is YOUR country. On November 2nd, represent.
Vote Again 2010.
We are young climate leaders-we vote!
July 13th, 2010
By Courtney Hight, Executive Director of Energy Action Coalition
When an oil rig exploded off the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, the country was startled out of inaction and we have all watched, day after day, one more example of the impact of reliance on dirty and dangerous sources of energy. Young people were ready to take to the streets, and Energy Action Coalition has since organized nearly 100 actions in response to the disaster.
Now, we’re ready to take that action to the polls.
This fall, Energy Action Coalition is launching Power Vote 2010 – working with Millennials who care about climate change and environmental justice to take their passion to the polls. Rahm Emanuel said just a few weeks ago what we’ve long known to the true – that young people who are passionate about energy issues and the environment will turn out to vote. Power Vote 2008 engaged over 350,000 young people around clean energy – and since I became the Executive Director of the Energy Action Coalition just last month, I’ve heard countless stories about the successes of the 2008 campaign. I am counting down the days until we launch Power Vote at our training camp next month in Chicago! We still have a few spaces available–apply today!
Young people are defining our decade, and standing up to the dirty energy corporations that are influencing our elections and our elected leaders. The Energy Action Coalition will continue to be the hub of this action – your home if you want to be trained, inspired, and supported to create a just and sustainable future. Today’s the day for you to take action! Sign up to run Power Vote on your campus or community on our brand new website – www.energyactioncoalition.org. We can’t wait for you to join us!
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