Posted on 02/10/2006 5:08:14 AM PST by arbooz
The Rock the Vote movement, which began in 1990 in an effort to get young people to register to vote for any candidate they wished as long as it was a Democrat, is in dire straights.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Rock the Vote is the proud owner of $700,000 in debt, and the group has cut its staff from 20 people in 2004 to just two today.
The people, and if the trend continues, person, who now run Rock the Vote have said that the public has the impression that because of the high profile nature of the celebrities who publicly endorse Rock the Vote, the group already has plenty of money and there's no reason to donate.
Aside from the admission that the zillionaires who show up to offer Rock the Vote face time but conveniently "left the checkbook at home," the reason Rock the Vote is falling into a financial hole and their offices are now emptier than Paris Hilton's CAT scan is simple:
A) Businesses run by liberals who are dumb enough to believe in, and practice, anti-capitalism are doomed from the start (if you're going to have a fake liberal store front, it needs to be supported by capitalist joists, the way the phonies who run Ben & Jerry's ice cream do it).
B) Thankfully, there simply aren't enough idiotic liberal kids anymore. Out of those millions of young people that Rock the Vote registered, how many were "the enemy"? Republican kids go to Pearl Jam concerts, too, but don't tell anybody.
C) Rock the Vote is pushed big on MTV, which has gone from a musical lark to a horrible and mind-numbingly vacuous pop-culture train wreck. MTV's core audience are people who will never be coaxed out of their chairs on election day because odds are they're engaged in pre-show activities for that night's "Real World." Just because they registered to vote because they were drunk at a Dave Matthews concert doesn't mean they'll actually go vote, no matter how much Woody Harrelson and "Flea" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers beg them.
D) Getting people registered to vote, and assuming they will vote, is as far apart as showing people how to fill out an astronaut application form and expecting them to be on the next Space Shuttle.
E) Leftist celebrities wildly overestimate the power of their own opinion. To think that -- if Moby, Jennifer Aniston and the bald Tinkertoy from REM tell us to vote, and for whom to vote -- we lemmings will gladly leap off whatever political cliff they do, should be, and is, an insult of biblical proportions.
Celebrities can really get full of themselves. Years ago, my wife and I saw Don Henley in concert. Some great music, but in order to hear it, those in attendance were forced to put up with a sanctimonious monologue about saving Walden Woods that would have made Thoreau himself take his own life. We came to hear "Boys of Summer" and "Hotel California," and ended up nearly violating federal law by wringing the neck of an Eagle.
Rock the Vote spent years exposing "Generation Ritalin" to such heavy issues as what a candidate's hash pipe of choice, if their skivvies are boxers or briefs, or which historical figure they would most like to funnel beer with, and then those very people expect the same kids to react with a passion and knowledge for actual issues at the voting booth? This is like waiting for a kid who has only been exposed to Pauly Shore movies to start reciting Shakespeare.
But the biggest problem for Rock the Vote is that its own worst enemy. Inherent in liberal thinking is the belief that "somebody else" should pay for everything.
In a liberal organization that survives on raised funds combined with supporters who also embrace the gimme-gimme-gimme ideology, it doesn't take long before you run out of "somebody elses" while the supporters stand around staring at each other, wondering what happened, clinging tightly to their wallets, and blaming it all on bad accounting or public misconception.
Rock the Vote could soon be on to the final chapter in its life -- Chapter 7.
Doug Powers is a Michigan-based columnist for WorldNetDaily.com.
Goota love this news! LOL!
Only two staffers left and $700K in debt. LOL
This compensates for Peggy's column, which made me MAD.
Gee .. Hollywood are tightwads that don't put their money where they mouth is
Shocker
I thought "Vote or Die" was kind of catchy.
Rock the Vote ain't rocking these days...if it ever did.
Brilliant. In fact, the whole column was.
it's all a vast right wing conspiracy !
lol
MTV plays music videos?
I don't believe it.
Great line.
Too funny...great catch. Thanks for posting.
"MTV plays music videos?
I don't believe it."
MTV has proven to be one of most destabilizing forces in American society and the perveyors of this filth should be executed as traitors
Yeah, a good one.
>>>The Rock the Vote movement, which began in 1990 in an effort to get young people to register to vote for any candidate they wished as long as it was a Democrat, is in dire straights. >>>
LOL!!
I turned 18 in 1990 and voted for the first time for a president in 1992. I voted Clinton of course because MTV showed me how cool he was. (bluch)
I of course grew up and eventually started leaning toward rational thought and not the immature thought of "sharing", like they teach in kindergarten. Especially when I realized that only a select few had to 'share'.
Then 9/11 hit and I was news hungry. After the initial wear off, the only information I got was talk radio and things I heard made sooo much sense. I actually grew all the way up and started giving a damn. Although more Libertarian in alot of views, I vote Republican most of the time. National Security has been my biggest beef with the Libertarian party.
Who is rockin now?
>>Aside from the admission that the zillionaires who show up to offer Rock the Vote face time but conveniently "left the checkbook at home,"
Many celebs do this. They donate their time instead of money. People don't understand this. It should be appreciated..
Yep, same here. I LOVED MTV. Loved the music. There is no music on MTV anymore. I watch World Video channel now. Nothing but music and really good stuff from around the world.
LOL! Thanks for posting. I will have to look for more of this guys writing.
Didn't I watch this as a movie?
I think it was called "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure".
Good point. Rock the Vote had potential to be cool, fun, and worthwhile, but was poorly managed by people with too little business experience, too little imagination, and too much political bias.
Drugs and cash don't mix.
Break on through to the other side......
Nothing could beat 120 Minutes in the early days! Thankfully, I always had a later class schedule on Mondays so staying up till 2 am didn't have an adverse affect on my school work.
They go from hand to hand...lol.
Radio killed the video star.
Back when I was too young to vote I remember some eighteen year olds talking about who they voted for and it was Nixon. When my sister said "But you're supposed to vote McGovern" they said "Why vote for a loser?".
Rock The Vote has always been an arm of the Clintons campaigns, and even run by Clinton staffers, like, Ricki Seidman.
A Republican organization like this, laughably claiming non-partisanship, would be declared illegal.
I NEVER tune to that tasteless junk.
Yeah, Empty-V sucks now. Nothing but music of peace (cRap) videos and reality shows starring bisexuals.
I woke up on election day and felt kind of under the weather.
"Vote or Die" was the only motivation I needed to get up and moving. :)
"Radio killed the video star."
I hear that! I can get more done and enjoy the music while I'm working. No need to watch some stupid video that has nothing to do with the song.
Besides, there aren't too many classic country videos anyway ;)
Rock The Vote will not be allowed to die like it should. If necessary, leftist organizations will demand the government fund it, and will file lawsuits claiming disenfranchisement of poor, minority and young voters if the feds don't cough up the funds.
Great pic.
I have turned into my Father. Something he accurately predicted a long time ago. Horrified me at the time. I remember thinking, "If I've gotta be like you, I'd rather be dead."LOL
Strictly oldies for me now.
Mr. Powers make excellent points.
arbooz, thanks for posting the entire article.
Ah, yes. How fondly I remember those college days with Martha Quinn.
I wish the 911 nuts had flown into MTV headquarters. I hate MTV more than I hate Al-Qaeda. MTV has ruined the lives of more American young people than the Koranimals ever will.
Their "donation" to charity is also tax deductible.
My pleasure, I found it to be quite entertaining.
This is why you keep hearing suggestions about being able to "vote over the Internet" as a way to enable more voters to get to the polls. God help us if we ever allow this to take place.
No, it is in dire STRAITS. A common enough mistake, but felonious in a writer.
Other than that, good -- if somewhat predictable -- news.
That is true very true of MTV starting in about 1989/1990, although it wasn't that way in the early days. Now, MTV is just a sewer filled with toxic social misfits and malcontents.
There did use to be a country video station, but I have no idea if it is still around.
I remember the very first music video ever played on MTV.
"Video killed the radio star."
Martha was the cool chick every girl wanted to be in my high school (as opposed to the skanked out smack-addict one named Nina, but I mostly remember this sort of poncy, goofy-haired (although, my hair was often pretty goofy back then... wince...) English guy hosting the show.
Uh oh. What did Peggy (Noonan?) write?
Please give me a moment to find the post, and I'll ping you.
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