Change in Paris…

This past Sunday, French people yet again showed the rest of the world the true meaning of a democracy. As Americans we love to attack and make fun of the French but once again they showed us how things should be done. I was amazed to see that the presidential election had an 85% turnout unlike our last election where we had a turnout of 54%. The funny thing about all of this is that our politicians spent over $500,000,000 in the last presidential race and only attracted 54% of the population. The French on the other hand use a state run television program so that the entire population has access to it and in return have a massive turnout. Wouldn’t it be great to see people being more interested in our presidential elections rather than worrying about voting for the next American Idol???

Illegal Immigration...

May 1^st marks yet another day of massive demonstrations around the country for illegal immigration. Many illegal immigrants were marching here in Los Angeles trying to gain support for their cause. As a legal immigrant who’s parents had to wait in line for over ten years in order to have the privilege of receiving a Green Card and gaining access legally, I believe that its not right for people to have the same rights if they choose to brake the laws of the land and not wait in line like the rest of us. Therefore I am absolutely against having amnesty for illegal immigrants; that being said I also realize that illegal immigrants are the backbone of our country due to their willingness to perform jobs that most “Americans” simply wouldn’t do. Many illegal immigrants are good hardworking citizens who actually help our society and therefore should have access to healthcare and education. I guess what I am really trying to say is that I don’t know what the right response to this crisis is; we shouldn’t reward people for breaking laws and at the same time we should find it in our hearts to help one another, especially if they are helping our economy and society. On a side note, I think all students who skip classes to attend these demonstrations should be suspended… odds are they are trying to get out of school and don’t really give a damn about the issue!!!

Crazy Tenet...

Today six former CIA officers wrote a nasty letter to the former Director George Tenet who is blamed by many for being one of the main reasons why we are at war. Interestingly enough the former officers accused Tenet of misleading the American public and our congress with the type of information he chose to release in order to make a case for Iraq. The officers expressed their anger and frustration with tenet because the reports from officers on the field clearly showed that there were no WMD in Iraq and that Saddam and Al-Qaeda had no ties to one another. The officers also requested Tenet giving back the Medal of Freedom he received from President Bush before leaving the Agency. What amazes me is that Tenet’s new book is coming out on Monday and he actually gets to profit from all the pain and suffering he has brought to our nation and the rest of the world.

I am not even going to title this...

www.votearaz.com

Ever since I found about the “wine making” video, I have been going around showing it to everybody that I know. Star Girls video was so funny that It inspired me to make this post.

Myspace/Facebook and local elections...

One of the major problems facing the future of the United States is the lack of political participation by young voters. Voter turnout between the ages of 18 and 25 have declined sharply since the 1970’s which has motivated intellectuals and political leaders to strive to find an effective way to motivate young adults to vote. Many thought that with the advent of the Internet, the explosion of information available would motivate an increase in voter turnout among the entire population, not to mention the Internet-savvy youth.
After the success of Howard Dean’s internet fundraising scheme, attention to the power of the internet as a means for political participation was once again spent. As such I found it particularly advantageous to consider the potential for gaining support amongst my peers when I decided to run for a position as a member in the local school board.
I realized that the popularity of social networking sites amongst my fellow schoolmates and friends could possibly be a tool for gaining support for my campaign. Thus, I began researching the impact of the Internet, mainly social networking sites including Myspace and Facebook, on voter turnout from the 18-25 year old age group.
Today Myspace has over 87 million members, and continues to increase at 270,000 new signups each day. Despite recent controversies regarding pedophiles and other sexual predators, Myspace continues to grow, even internationally. There is no better way to find individuals and contact them with political informational material. Facebook, like Myspace, is a social networking tool that was initially specifically geared toward students and business people with registered email addresses in their respective networks. Since it’s advent in 2004, Facebook has gained over 12 million registered users. Since Facebook required a valid school or work email address, it was the perfect tool for finding educated people and funneling information. Furthermore, since positive correlations between educational level and voter participation have been found, it seems that Facebook would be a very useful tool in targeting an educated populace geared toward political activism. The combined popularity of Myspace and Facebook may be a worthy target for political activism, since the combination of the two totals nearly 100 million people. If a fraction of this large group of people were successfully targeted, it could mean enough to decide a local election.
I knew that if I could combine this new Internet strategy with the more traditional styles of campaigning, I would be able to build a base of support large enough to out seat my opponent. Thus I formed support groups on both Myspace and Facebook and managed to have 436 members by Election Day. In my opinion, this support was instrumental in increasing the voter turnout from 7,548 votes in 2000 to 8,467 in 2006 (smartvoter.org), which is an increase in almost 11 percent (or 919 votes).
After the election, the group members were surveyed and as a result we now know that 68% the members were first time voters; and 64% stated that they would have not voted if it wasn’t because of the personal connection they felt towards the campaign as a result of being members of my group. Looking back at the Election, I now can show the importance of the internet and social networking sites in helping shape the future of local elections.