“And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds.
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through.” -David Bowie
My kids have reached roller coaster age. It’s a magical and expensive time. They’re always begging me to take them to Cedar Point which is an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio— about a 2 hour drive from Detroit.
The park is a popular attraction. In fact, it’s the second most visited amusement park in North America. If you try and go there with just the regular tickets you’ll spend about six hours waiting in lines and you’ll maybe get on three rides the whole day. This is a shitty way to spend time at an amusement park. I don’t like to wait and I feel like my kids are looking at me like a loser as the other families scoot by us with their Fast Passes.
With two kids, all in with tickets, Fast Passes and the ridiculously priced food, Cedar Point is about a day’s wages for me. So they get to go on their birthdays and a second occasion of their choosing. That’s all the amusement I can really afford.
A few weeks ago my older son turned 13 and we made the trip. It’s a straight shot down I-75 south, but after Toledo you get off the interstate and the rest of the drive is through the countryside which is lovely with some really nice views of Lake Erie.
Sandusky has a population of around 25,000 people. I’m not an expert on this but I’d guess about a third of the population works for Cedar Point, a third of the population works at the nearby Davis–Besse nuclear power plant and the rest are farmers. The last part of the drive is by the small farms, the little church houses and the quaint general stores.
Right now, if you were to take the drive, you’d see that these people are very passionate about their politics. You’d also be under the assumption that only one person is running for president.
Which isn’t surprising. This is small-town Ohio. The heart of the Midwest. It’s Trump country. No one reading this should be shocked at all by that.
However, the rhetoric is coarse and it’s a little disheartening. As you pass by the rows of corn in the fields, the little Jesus loves you signs in front of the church and the local bait shops selling night crawlers you see house after house with signs, flags and 10 foot banners that say, “Trump 2024. Fuck your feelings”.
I start to wonder which house the pastor lives in. It’s a little like Norman Rockwell if the Germans had won the war.
I was very lucky as a kid because I had parents who would talk to me about important stuff. We had open, intelligent conversations about all sorts of issues. I remember my parents talking to me about AIDS and how important it was to be educated about protecting myself. We talked about drugs, and they gave me information based on facts not fear.
But there was perhaps no issue more important to my parents than voting.
They considered it a civic duty. And they always stressed to me how important it was for young people in particular to participate in our democracy.
I was very lucky.
My mother, Tabitha Soren and my dad, Kurt Loder believed that young people were the key to winning elections. So they made sure I was prepared. They even had some of their cool friends talk to me about it—people I respected like Dee Snider and Sebastian Bach.
The 2020 presidential election had one of the biggest voter turn-outs in modern history. According to the Pew Research Center, about two-thirds (66%) of the eligible voting population turned out for the 2020 presidential election. That was the highest rate for any national election since 1900.
It’s estimated that 50% of eligible voters age 18-29 voted in the 2020 election. That’s an 11-point jump from 2016. Mom, Dad and Uncle Dee would have been really proud.
Voter turnout was highest among people ages 65 to 74, but lowest among those ages 18 to 24. In general, voter turn-out increases as age, education level and income increase. Which is incredibly unsurprising but also incredibly revealing.
A lot of people think young people don’t vote because they’re either apathetic, lazy or living van-life. This, of course, is untrue. Young people aren’t apathetic or lazy. Those vans take a lot of hard work to become livable.
The fact is older people vote because they know how. Maybe for you, voting is super easy. You know exactly where your polling station is. Your work encourages you to take time off to get it done. And you know just how to wear your little “I voted” sticker to rack up the maximum amount of virtue signaling points every time you go to the break room for coffee.
A lot of young people don’t know how to do this stuff. For a country that prides itself so much on freedom and democracy, I can’t remember taking any classes that taught me how to register to vote or why it was important.
Rock the Vote was founded in 1990 by Virgin Records America Co-Chairman, Jeff Ayeroff to encourage young people to vote. In 1991, their message was broadcast on MTV in a PSA featuring Madonna wrapped up in an American flag.
Over the next 34 years Rock the Vote helped register over 14 million new voters. It’s no longer affiliated with MTV. However, I don’t think that’s a problem because MTV isn’t really a thing anymore. MTV News no longer even exists. I haven’t heard from Mom and Dad in years.
Kids are funny. When they’re really little, the last thing they want is to be scared. That’s what nightlights are for. However, eventually they get to an age where they love being scared and that’s why they get into riding rollercoasters.
Amusement parks do a great job at giving kids a little peek at being terrified. We adults don’t really need it so much because we get such a hearty dose of the real thing each and every day.
We’ve got much bigger rollercoasters.
No Fast Passes.
And a vote that now more than ever, needs a good and proper rocking.
Thanks for reading. If anyone needs a bit of freelance copywriting done, I'm currently available.
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