BS-O-Meter On High

An article published in The Tidings, a Catholic weekly, begins by commenting that "the Internet can empower young people to be the deciding factor in the 2008 presidential election," a phenomenon the nation is currently witnessing with the extension of politics onto the social networking website Facebook, the online video website YouTube, and some of the presidential candidates websites (that's six different websites for your viewing pleasure!), all of which are most accessed by young people.

However, the article then quotes Stephen Schneck, chair of the politics department at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, who expects that turnout among young voters to be minimal in 2008 because "they don't feel like they have as much of a stake in society as adults do. The Internet is not going to change that in any way."

What? According to the recent New York Times/CBS/MTV poll of 17 to 29-year-olds, 65% believed that this election was one of the most important if not THE most important election of their lifetimes, while young voters also identified that the War in Iraq, environmental protection and climate change, and the status of America's health care are the most pressing issues today. Even 16 months away from the general election, all of these issues are being heavily addressed in the campaign dialogue.

The 2008 election will be an opportunity to finally bury the misconceived idea that youth aren't engaged in politics. The 2004 presidential election saw an increase of four million young voters from 2000, while the 2006 midterm election had an increase of two million young voters from 2002. The third time's the charm: let's break these records in 2008 and prove Schneck wrong and show that we DO care about the future of this country!