Political parties and student groups urge youth to vote

By |

In 2008, young voters helped make Barack Obama the president. Although the high turnout of people aged 18-29 is not expected to be repeated this year, political parties, campaigns and youth organizations are working hard to make sure that young people make their voices and votes heard.Low turnout rates have always been a pattern with young voters, but Matt Smriga, director of campus organizing with the Minnesota State University Student Association, works to change that. MSUSA is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that educates youth on how to vote and why it’s important.“Our democracy doesn’t work if people aren’t really paying attention and very few people are showing up to vote,” Smriga said.Youth confused about how to voteAccording to Smriga, the biggest reason young people don’t vote is because of their confusion over the polling process.“By far the most important thing to do is just educating young people about how to vote — what the process is,” Smriga said. “For whatever reason, that’s incredibly intimidating for someone who has never voted before.”Younger voters sometimes trivialize the voting process because they don’t know how to navigate it, he said. His job is to devise programs to show them the ropes, in order to make voting more accessible and less complex.This is why he and MSUSA oppose the Voter ID Amendment that will be on the ballot this November.“If you add a whole other set of rules, and regulations, and steps that young people need to take, that’s really going to negatively impact their turnout rate,” Smriga said.Social networking hot tool for campaigns wooing young votersMeanwhile, presidential campaigns are working on securing the votes of youth. Continue Reading

Disappointed and anxious, young voters unlikely to show up in record numbers

By |

Frustrated by a weak job market and high college costs, many young voters are less excited about this year’s presidential election than they were in 2008.Mackenzie Piezhowski, 19 and a student at the University of St. Thomas, is concerned about having a good job and health care she can afford once she graduates.“We were promised many things that weren’t accomplished yet,” said Piezhowski. “People need healthcare, but people also need jobs.”Piezhowski, from Hutchinson, Minnesota, leans to the Republican side of issues and is likely vote for Mitt Romney. She feels that President Obama has had his chance to improve the economy and she’s ready for a change.Matthew Smriga (pictured, left), the director of campus organizing for the Minnesota State University Student Association, spends a lot of time on college campuses trying to get more young people to vote.He feels many of the young people who voted for President Obama in 2008 did so because he was dynamic, African American and promised change. After four years with Obama as the president, many young people are disappointed and wonder where the promised change is.“It’s a combination of him (Obama) not being new and any personal disappointments in his performance. Continue Reading

OPINION | Why Minnesota political junkie is calling it quits

By |

Politics in America today is exhausting, crummy, and well…just not worth the effort anymore. At least not for me. How about you?At 79 years old, and about 60 years of deep, active, and personal political involvement, I am ready to “call it quits”. It’s not that I am unconcerned about our state, our nation, or future – its just that politics in today’s America (especially presidential politics) is so unbecoming…so unattractive…so exhausting…so…well you get the idea. At any rate, it’s not for me anymore. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | If Andy Taylor Were President

By |

After hearing about the death of Andy Griffith and lamenting his passing, I was thinking about what it would be like if Andy Taylor were President on this Fourth of July.I seriously doubt he’d be a member of the Republican or Democratic party in this era, he had too much respect for himself and others to be reduced to a political caricature. Although he leaned progressive, Andy Griffith, the person, declined invitations from the democrats to run for office on more than one occasion. I think Andy Taylor would have done the same. In speaking about the enduring legacy of the, “Andy Griffith Show”, the actor once said it was about, “love”. It seems there isn’t much these days in American politics that reflects that quality, unless you count the love of money and power. I imagine President Andy Taylor would have been a humble, compassionate and strong leader, just like the Sheriff of Mayberry. Continue Reading

THREE ISSUES | “Puttin’ People On the Moon”… and in Congress… and into the White House

By |

Jim Rufi, the 46-year old award-winning Car Program manager of the St. Paul-Fairview Goodwill Easter Seals (since 2005), self-avowed fan of the country-rock group “Drive-By Truckers”, and astute student of political science told the Daily Planet what he feels are the most important issues in the upcoming federal elections this fall, illustrating with song lyrics in a deft juxtaposition of music, politics, and life.FP: “Jim, what are some of the concerns, concepts, or issues you have regarding the upcoming national elections that you hope to see addressed or resolved?”JR: “Basically, I would want President Obama to win. But as far as the political process itself goes (the election season, politicking, ads), I must say I’m a bit disillusioned.”FP: “How did you reach a point of disillusionment?”JR: “Oh, just the past, seeing it all play out, having experienced past elections. You know, one of my favorite connections to the political process is through music, just because as a medium of communication, music is so universal, open, and relevent to everyday life, including politics.”FP: “Could you elucidate?”JR: “Sure. For example, if you look around at the U.S. voting populace today, alot of them, including me, are [disillusioned] with the current course we’re on, especially regarding foreign policy. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Elections: What’s Democracy Got To Do With It?

By |

The quadrennial ritual of U.S. presidential election is happening in a strange morass of massive money contributed by secret corporate donors, right-wing attempts to roll back voting rights for millions of Americans and a mountain of very real problems that neither ‘major’ political party seems interested in addressing. Add in the context of the “Arab Spring” aftermath of elections and Syria’s uprising that attempts to overthrow its dictator, it feels almost quaint that there are still people willing to die for the chance to vote. Here in the “land of the free”, as a progressive voter I am told I have no choice but to vote for the Democratic Party candidate.Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. The opinions expressed in the Free Speech Zone and Neighborhood Notes, as well as the opinions of bloggers, are their own and not necessarily the opinion of the TC Daily Planet.In the country that touts itself as ‘the greatest democracy on Earth’—America— elections are more like crude propaganda and 21st century grade-B exploitation films made by Madison Avenue shopping gurus. Continue Reading