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Delaware High School Students more Libertarian than their parents (no big surprise)

Browsing through the Hockessin Community News this morning [admittedly, primarily interested in finding the coupon for the Crownery Chinese Restaurant] and I discovered two things:

First, HCN has joined the rest of the media in the deplorable practice of not reporting anything except Democratic or Republican votes in elections: Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin were left out of their Presidential totals. In a way, I can understand that--how many of the 37 Presidential candidates do you report?

But in Delaware the case should be different. That Jeff Brown managed over 1,000 votes for Governor in the Blue Enigma Party is news; likewise the showings of Mark Parks (Libertarian) for Congress and Tom Savage (Independent) for Insurance Commissioner. Several thousand Delaware citizens voted for these candidates--what do they have to do to at least get their votes recorded by the media?

Second, the HCN reported on the results of the High School Mock Election, conducted by the Delaware Department of Elections. Ironically, the HCN reported all the results here, possibly because they could not ignore the following:

For Congress, Mark Parks (L) received 9% of the vote (4,542)
For Governor, Jeff Brown (BEP) received 8% (4,111)
For Lieutenant Governor, Peter Cullen (BEP) received 11% (5,124)
For Insurance Commissioner, Tom Savage (I) received 17% (8,247)

This could mean that some high school students didn't take the election that seriously, which is probably what Demopublicans would like you to believe.

I tend to think it is a snapshot of young people caught before the restrictive nature of the American political system has deluded them into thinking there are only two choices: this Statist or that Statist.

These are American citizens who still have open minds (at least in much higher percentages than their parents), and we need to court them before their thinking becomes ossified by the status quo.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I am attempting to form a youth caucus within the Boston Tea Party. Young people are willing to become more involved in politics these days, which is a positive in my opinion.
Joe said…
Maybe the high schoolers who voted Independent or Libertarian knew what they were doing, but I've got to believe a significant number of those who voted "Blue Enigma Party" did so just for the comic relief value.

I mean, hell, I actually had a moment in the voting booth where I considered pushing the BEP button for governor solely to amuse myself, knowing that even without my vote Markell would still absolutely smoke Bill Lee.

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