Staff Editorial

Senate candidates won’t worry about young vote

The 2012 Senate election for the US will be in November, and Texas candidates can’t wait for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson to retire.

Hutchinson could have had a fourth term all the way through. She was the incumbent after all, she stood a good chance. No need to worry, there is a plethora of candidates running for the seat. And vice versa: because of the low turnout of voters under the age of 29, they won’t be worried about you.

Just to name a few of the candidates: Ted Cruz, the former State Solicitor General. David Dewhurst, the current Lt. Governor. Tom Leppert, the former mayor of Dallas.  Cruz and Leppert have already met with newspapers like the Houston Chronicle and made their case for why they should get the seat. Dewhurst and other candidates aren’t far behind.

And they’re all the same old same old. Candidates like Leppert think Washington has “career politicians”, most of them lawyers. Incedentally, Leppert was the Chairman and CEO of the Turner Corporation, and once served on the board of directors for Washington Mutual.

These aren’t accusations. It’s hard to say what a lawyers priority is if not the law, but there is no doubt that a businessleader’s priority is profit. It’s in their genetic makeup. Profit is why they’ll push for projects like the Keystone XL pipeline before choosing more eco-firendly alternatives like nuclear energy or natural gas. Profit is why so many businessleaders (generally speaking) are against Social Security and prefer unregulated free market capitalism.

They’re not all alike, but few candidates will give two shakes of a dead dog’s tail about the young vote — it’s  generally nonexistent. Young people have ideas, sure, but English majors who squawk about George Orwell and Ayn Rand, but don’t vote, shouldn’t be surprised when Washington doesn’t adopt their brilliant plans to fix the economy.

With voter turnout skewed, the next senator is going to continue business as usual, with little care for the grievances and opinions of the young.

9 Comments

  • so true, politicians don't give a shit about us because we dont vote. it makes sense, politicians only want to get re elected so they listen and do right by their constituents. when young people dont vote, they dont give a shit about you cause ur not helping them. we as young people are perpetuating this cycle of a government that caters only to a small group of people. Im so sick of hearing responses like 'i dont like either person so i'm not going to vote." people who say this really dont understand how stupid they sound to an educated person.

  • This is a good example of a well written editorial. While I don't agree with much of the discussion, I did enjoy reading it. Well done young writer.

  • "The 2012 Senate election for the House of Representatives"….. uhhh…. the House of Representatives and the Senate are two separate legislative bodies.

  • I will vote Cruz since Williams is running for Congress.
    .
    I disagree with Coug78 and David G about the article as stated. It's naive and refuses to address the hard realities the policies of the Democrat Party have had upon our country since Nov. 2006. And guess what, the youth vote would rather have more jobs than more Obama, as seen at UNC today when the Messiah garnered barely half the supporters he had four years ago.

    Editorial statements like "Profit is why they’ll (the GOP will) push for projects like the Keystone XL pipeline before choosing more ECO-friendly alternatives like NUCLEAR ENERGY or natural gas." The person who wrote that does have the slightest idea what they are talking about wrote that, especially after what happened at Fukushima. Although, nuclear is safe in the US, its amazing to see that coming from a bunch of naive, Democratically fed young writers.
    .
    AND GUESS WHAT, you have to DRILL FOR OIL to get Natural Gas.

    • Tell me, does placing a nuclear power plant well below a century-old high-water marker that warns of high tsunamis sound like a good idea to you? Oh, and letting it operate for rather longer than its operating time? And, really, putting the backup generators in the basement??? So that naturally they go out when the water floods in?

      Those are just a few of the problems at Fukushima. Generalizing from it to all nuclear power is just naive. I'd rather have nuclear power than dirty coal that ruins the drinking water of whole communities and engages in practices like mountain-top removal. Nuclear IMBY please!

  • To the naive writers on the DC Editorial Board, "PROFIT" is NOT a dirty word. To you on the DC Editorial Board, profit goes straight into the POCKETS of the EVIL rich Senators and EVIL Rich, and they don't HIRE more EMPLOYEES, or give RAISES, or EXPAND BUSINESSES to make our ECONOMY STRONGER. Well, they don't under Obama. I mean, if you baked a cake and knew that Obama was going to take 1/2 to 3/4's of it, would you baked another. That's why businesses, especially small ones can't wait to vote GOP in November, just for the simple pleasure of knowing that a GOP President will not go off on a whim and take what he wants from a successful company.

  • The solace I hold for the future of journalism majors at UH is grand knowing that your personal liberalism/socialism will overcome your notion of future personal success, and it will be your eventual demise.
    .
    Just look at how the staff at the Paper of Record are handling the news of their pension reductions. Current NYT writers who's support of the Democrat Party's liberal policies now have their futures in doubt because of promised unsustainable spending. Just think of the businesses the NYT and all liberals have demeaned.
    .


    .
    Question? Do pensions fund managers go to the Magic Pension fairy, or do they invest the money in the stock market (and in the same companies) that liberal writers demean on a daily basis, while expecting the same or better rate of return for the fund? FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

  • Look at how the staff at the Paper of Record are handling the news of their pension reductions. Current NYT writers who's support of the Democrat Party's liberal policies now have their futures in doubt because of promised unsustainable spending. Just think of the businesses the NYT and all liberals have demeaned.
    .


    .
    Question? Do pensions fund managers go to the Magic Pension fairy, or do they invest the money in the stock market (and in the same companies) that liberal writers demean on a daily basis, while expecting the same or better rate of return for the fund? FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

  • The Ted Cruz for Senate campaign has a full time Youth Outreach Director, Nick Dyer. Please contact him if you want to get involved in the campaign, Nick at TedCruz dot org or 512-637-8777. Internships are available.

Leave a Comment