Colorado College students yell 'Obamanos!' on their way to the polls in November, 2008. Will the youth vote be this energized with Biden in November?
Back in 2008 one of the most stirring sights in Colorado political history was that of angry students from Colorado College (in Colorado Springs) pouring out of their dorms and classes to vote in the 2008 elections. These youngsters had had enough of the Bush-Republican epoch of nonstop wars, killing, and torture (e.g. of the Abu Ghraib prisoners in Iraq) and knew in their hearts merely marching in the streets wouldn't be enough. They knew while marches and protests might have a 'feel good' elixir effect they really needed to get out, register, and then vote! And so it was their massive youth vote revival that swept Barack Obama to the presidency.
Will a similar 'youth wave' sweep Joe Biden to victory this year? We have to wait and see but so far Trump's move to ban Tik Tok may well be the tipping point to finally drive a youth vote beyond the 20 percent mark and in Biden's favor. Do the young who use Tik Tok the most even know how Trump has their favorite social app in his sights?
According to the WSJ ('Security Concerns, Anger Fuel Trump's Move Against Apps', August 8, p. A6):
"Mr. Trump signed two executive orders late Thursday, to take effect in 45 days, that will bar Americans from transactions with the Tik Tok video app."
We learned the reason for Trump's aggressive actions (ibid.) are:
"his frustration over the pandemic and China's failure to contain it.'
In fact, China DID contain it using draconian measures for its own (e.g. Wuhan) shutdowns, including moving infected people from their homes into separate quarters, and temporary isolation - quarantine centers. As NY Times columnist Don McNeil wrote back in March:
"In contrast to the halting steps taken here, China shut down Wuhan — the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak — and restricted movement in much of the country on Jan. 23, when the country had a mere 500 cases and 17 deaths. Its rapid action had an important effect: With the virus mostly isolated in one province, the rest of China was able to save Wuhan."
So, no, Trump's rationale - if that's what it can be called - is simply bogus. He's simply vexed that the pandemic has got the better of him and his lackeys and he's failed to respond to it, as journalist Laurie Garret has pointed out, e,.g.
Excerpt:
" In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion."
In any case it would be great if the young 18- 35 youth demographic finally have something to light a fire under them to get out and vote. Earlier, I had noted a depressing article (Denver Post, 'Young in U.S. Question Value of Voting', June 7, p. 3A) noting that American youth weren't too enthralled by the present offering of candidates. They mostly found Biden about as interesting as a wet dish rag or soggy oatmeal. In other words their current attitude was kind of 'meh' on voting.
But as I warned in my June 16 post this is not the time, not the year, to be picky or purist. Our one main goal has to be to remove Trump and do it in a blowout. Sitting on the sidelines and failing to summon the energy to cast a ballot - even a mail ballot - is simply not an option.
See Also:
by Michael Winship | May 13, 2020 - 5:50am | permalink
Excerpt:
"There must be one mission above all, one goal supreme: Vote this monster out of the White House. And along with him, tow to the nearest dump the clown car of malefactors who gave him license to cripple our republic.
And:
