HeadCount Blog

There’s good news, bad news, and interesting news about young voters.

According to Project Vote, 64% of the US population voted in the 2008 general election, an increase of 4% over 2000. While older white people continue to vote earliest and most often, nonwhites comprised 91% of the increase in voters. And while the number of young voters has increased 30% over each of the past two elections, about 21 million potential voters under the age of 30 didn’t vote in 2008. If they’d voted at the same rate as those 30 and over, 7 million more votes would have been cast. Meanwhile, female and minority voters are on the rise. While the percentage of voters under 30 increased, that of their elders did not; and non-whites still comprise the largest bloc of nonvoters. Young black women registered at a higher ratio than any other group. Fifty-two percent of young white women voted, a higher rate than anyone except young black women. The electorate is increasingly diverse, hooray. But there’s still long way to go in a nation where nearly a third of the citizenry doesn’t vote at all.

With all this action among young nonwhite female voters, “No wonder Republicans worry about a Democratic demographic storm,” writes Mark Ambinder in his Atlantic Politics blog.

Well, not so fast. The Daily Kos poll released on Friday asked: “In the 2010 Congressional elections will you definitely vote, probably vote, not likely vote, or definitely will not vote?” The results are a wake-up call for Democrats still riding high on Obama optimism:

Voter Intensity: Definitely + Probably Voting/Not Likely + Not Voting

Republican Voters: 81/14
Independent Voters: 65/23
DEMOCRATIC VOTERS: 56/40

Democratic voters said they “definitely” would not vote at a rate three times that of Republicans and Independents.

Yet another poll suggests that Democrats need to pass health-insurance reform if they want to stay in power. According to a Public Policy Polling survey last week, a generic ballot had Democrats ahead of Republicans 46%-38%. Remove a health-care plan from that equation, however, and the numbers even up substantially, to 40-40. As analyst Nate Silver writes, Democrats “should probably not expect to gain ground if they pass health care — but they’re likely to lose more if they don’t.”

Maybe you can see where this is going. Young voters, who so far have been the biggest advocates of Democratic health-care reform, are being targeted by the anti-reform League of American Voters (not to be confused with the League of Women Voters, whose name they’ve appropriated) with forcedly cute ads imitating John Hodgman’s Apple commercials. According to GOP operative (and former Clinton adviser) Dick Morris, these ads have single-handedly caused a sharp swing against so-called “Obama care” in the three states (Arkansas, Maine, North Dakota) in which they’ve run. Expect to see more of them in the weeks ahead.

Last week the American Medical Association (AMA) announced its support of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II status. The AMA has refused to budge on this for decades, and opponents of marijuana law reform often cite the organization’s stance as an argument that marijuana should remain illegal.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which has used the AMA’s stance in just such a manner, has yet to comment on the AMA’s suggestion. Yesterday, however, the agency removed that particular bulletpoint from its list of reasons why pot should remain illegal.

The change can probably be attributed to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of police officers, judges, lawyers, and many other law-enforcement officials who oppose drug prohibition. LEAP organized a letter-writing campaign to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting the site be updated.

One question, though: If the DEA were truly transparent, as it claims to be, wouldn’t it not only remove the previous AMA position but replace it with the association’s new stance?

A sometimes-vitriolic debate is raging in the yoga community about whether yogis should a) be politically active, and b) follow a vegetarian diet. Although ahimsa (nonviolence) is the primary yoga ethic, some teachers argue that vegetarianism is too restrictive and violates ahimsa by potentially causing harm to the student. Other teachers, notably Jivamukti Yoga founders Sharon Gannon and David Life (see photo), state emphatically that not only is a vegetarian diet better for people and the planet, ahimsa requires yogis to refrain from harming animals.

The World Peace Yoga Conference to be held in Cincinnati on October 23-25 ups the ante by inviting outspoken animal-rights activists such as Gannon, Life, envronmentalist Julia Butterfly Hill, and World Peace Diet author Will Tuttle to speak at the first all-vegan yoga/peace conference.

I asked Gannon and Life why they feel this is, as Life puts it, “the best idea of the millennium.”

David Life: “This is an opportunity for all of us to show that we care enough about world peace to take the first step ourselves. Yoga means “you do it!” You don’t wait for someone else to be compassionate, you do it. You don’t wait for someone else to create peace, you create it.”

Sharon Gannon: “Because this conference will focus on practical yoga methods to bring peace to a world where violence, exploitation, and destruction have become a way of life. We can be the change we wish to see in the world — not through anger and blame but by recognizing the connection between personal and global imbalances, all of which stem from the exploitation/degradation of animals and nature. We don’t have time to wait for enlightenment in isolated caves or yoga bubbles. Now is the time to become spiritually activated so that we can see what we have known in our hearts all along — that what we do to the world we ultimately do to ourselves.”

Registration for the World Peace Yoga Conference closes October 16.

Sharon Gannon discusses “What Does Yoga Have to Do with Vegetarianism?” and “Yoga and Spiritual Activism” on her Reality Sandwich blog.

Check out Debra’s band Devi.

The road to apathy is paved with post-election disappointment. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Sunday that closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay “has proven more complicated than anticipated.” An Economist blogger mocks him thusly:

Really? Figuring out what to do with hundreds of people held for years without charge on often flimsy terrorism allegations—not to mention those who almost certainly are terrorists, but who have been implicated by evidence obtained by torture—is complicated? Who could have imagined that?

We expect our leaders to have their eyes on the big picture, but they all too often seem focused on the day-to-day. Take the run-up to Iraq, for example. Or the housing bubble. The anonymous Economist writer also cites General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, who, when asked about the resurgent Taliban, said just last week, “The geographic spread of violence is a little more than I would have gathered.” Maybe I’m in the wrong business, because I’ve been reading about that for months.

Primary elections are taking place across the country. Right now!

So if you haven’t already, hie thee hence out the door, down the street, and into a voting booth. (If you live in Utah, don’t forget your ID.) In areas where one party dominates, the primary election is tantamount to a general election, making it all the more important. Afterward, reward yourself with a cold beer, a hot cup of coffee, or a refreshing smoothie.

Struck by how much lip service was being paid to young voters, yet how little real inclusion in the political process they were offered, Young People First (YPF) executive director Zach Kolodin and co-founder Lauren Smith launched YPF last summer as a way to mobilize the demographic to achieve long-term goals in the areas of educational, environmental sustainability, fiscal responsibility, health care, entrepreneurial opportunity, and infrastructure. Their means to that end is the “Future Preparedness Index,” a quantitative gauge of what kind of country and planet young people are inheriting. Koladin, a 2007 Wesleyan grad trained who for a year as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs and then worked as a strategy consultant to Echoing Green, explained what Young People First and the Future Preparedness Index are all about.

What is the Future Preparedness Index?

The Future Preparedness Index is meant to represent the Millennial Generation’s shared interest in building a strong American future. We’ve tried to boil down a vision of a sustainable, prosperous future to specific goals to which young people can hold their leaders accountable. Future Preparedness represents a vision of what a responsible government ought to provide: sustainable national prosperity and security that benefits all Americans over the long term. The FPI is our main tool to systematically raise issues related to our long-term vision, and force action. We’re currently engaging a wide array of stakeholders in the youth advocacy and policy communities to set the long-term goals that form the core of the FPI in preparation for a Fall 2009 launch.

Where did the idea come from and how did you start Young People First?

I started brainstorming new ideas for mobilizing young people with YPF co-founder Lauren Smith in summer 2008. We were really interested in crowdsourcing technologies. The Future Preparedness Index concept really took hold as the financial crisis was deepening in the fall and winter of 2008. We realized that future preparedness was exactly what this country lacked. Our leaders had allowed a partially hidden crisis to overtake the nation. We saw young people as the best watchdogs for that sort of thing. At that time, the YPF team had a bunch of programs we were pursuing, so we began to focus more directly on developing the FPI.

So basically a bunch of recent college grads got together and just had the will to make it happen? What’s that been like? A big party or a lot of sleepless nights? A little of both?

It’s been occasionally exhilarating but mostly pretty mundane. Initially we were probably overly audacious–this business requires a big dose of modesty. But since realizing how much great work is being done in youth organizing, and beginning to work with these organizations, it’s gone much more smoothly. I can tell you one thing for sure: it’s not a big party–it’s a lot of working alone or in pairs in coffeeshops, cramped apartments, and windowless offices. But I’m not complaining. Read the rest of this entry »

The White House earlier this summer announced the United We Serve campaign, an ambitious project aimed at inspiring people to become involved in community service while also promoting economic recovery.

Recognizing that music has the power to move millions, President Barack Obama turned to the music industry to take a lead role in building momentum for the campaign.

Acts such as the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, and more have already rallied behind the cause. Whether bysending out e-mails to fans, placing banners on MySpace pages, or mentioning United We Serve from the stage, musicians have helped the White House turn community service into a hip opportunity.

Michael Martin, president of EFFECT, is the man building connections between the music industry and United We Serve. He spoke recently with HeadCount about the goals of the initiative and how the music industry has been a positive force. Excerpts:

How did the United We Serve campaign come about and what is the underlying goal?
The United We Serve campaign came about from an initiative that President Obama and the First Lady put together, and the purpose of it is to create an initiative that makes it really easy for everyone to get involved with volunteering in their communities. It’s about community service, and it’s focused on three primary areas: environment, education and health care… This is the first year of this and our vision is to have this be an annual summer initiative. It’s very exciting, because I think it’s a very visionary program.

Why team up with the music industry?
The music industry is, I believe, the best megaphone possible for this. Number one, people who are listening to music at concerts are active. Number two, their hearts are open. Three, they’re touring around the country… We’ve had great success with getting artists to make requests of their fans and we’ve had a tremendous response rate. Up to a 30, 40, 50 percent response rate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Radical leftists are blowing up luxury cars in Berlin at the rate of one a night, according to this report. The strategy, which resembles an urban version of eco-terrorism, is documented on the Burning Cars of Berlin website, which Google-maps the arson sites and details the car makes involved. Young German anarchists – anti-materialists, anti-imperialists, and anti-fascists – are said to be behind the violence, which is notably directed against property rather than people. Police cars are also being targeted.

via Beyond the Beyond

By Eric Leventhal

Is there anything Google can’t do? I’m convinced they’re just a few thousand lines of code away from solving the Middle East conundrum.

Introducing In Quotes and Audio Indexing, two new Google Labs applications that are somehow both addictive and truly beneficial to researchers of all levels of sophistication. It’s fascinatingly easy to unearth retrospective hypocrisy (John Edwards discussing the value of his marriage) and grandstanding (John McCain speaking about the Iraq War to a Tyler, Texas, crowd in 2008).

The better informed we are, the more likely we’ll be outraged into doing something about it. So kudos to Google for facilitating change yet again.

By Eric Leventhal

This is William Proxmire, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin who was elected after the death of Joseph McCarthy in 1957 and who remained in office until he retired in 1989. His 32-year commitment to American politics is particularly relevant to our world in 2009.

First, Proxmire epitomizes the virtue of perseverance. When he sought to accomplish something, he did so with a firm and steadfast commitment to completion rarely allowing for compromise, much to the chagrin of many of his colleagues. Every morning the Senate was in session, from 1967 to 1986 (3211 days), Proxmire would extend an impassioned plea for ratification of the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Although Proxmire was criticized repeatedly for grandstanding and unnecessary ostentation, the treaty eventually passed the “advice and consent” legislative stage. In an era when “change” has been promised, particularly to the young, Proxmire’s tenacity is a beacon of hope to all political activists.

Second, Proxmire introduced the “Golden Fleece” awards, which he regularly bestowed upon governmental expenditures  he deemed gratuitous or unnecessary. In 1975, for example, he presented the award to the National Science Foundation for spending $84,000 to study how and why people fall in love. Another Golden Fleece was presented to the National Institute for Mental Health, which spent $97,000 “researching,” (through repeated visitation) a Peruvian brothel. In an era in which the President is CEO of an iconic American automobile company, and nobody is entirely sure what happened to all the TARP money, Proxmire’s vision of fiscal responsibility is increasingly prescient.

Senator Proxmire repeatedly fought for the protection, sanctity, and viability of the American taxpayer. His spirit of self-disinterest is inspiring at a time when Americans must come to grips with the ramifications of Madoff-ian greed.