I haven't spent much time on MTV in many, many years. Sure, I'll turn on the occasional Yo Momma marathon to while away the hours, but when it comes to making money or getting involved in politics, MTV just doesn't strike me as the best place to make an impact with my time.
But I'm not a politician.
I'm doing some research for a client (more about that later), and I've been spending some time on RocktheVote.com and MySpace. My first impression, and I'm sure it's accurate, is the overwhelming liberal message you get at those sites. Maybe that's from years of watching Kurt Loder and hearing Rock Stars complain about the environment, but when looking through the actual Rock the Vote site, something odd struck me. Only liberal think tanks and non-profits partner with Rock the Vote.
We know that younger voters often skew liberal, but don't vote, and by the time they vote, they're married with kids and paying taxes, which makes them Republicans. After 9/11, and in the middle of a war, there was hope that our youth was growing up at a faster rate than previous generations. Recent polls show that not to be the case, but I wonder if that's because we're not doing enough to fight the "progressive message" in the online forums where youth hang out.
Check out the sponsor page at RockTheVote.com.
Acorn, League of Women Voters, NAACP, People For The American Way, and True Majority.
Where's the Heritage Foundation? AmericanSolutions? The Hoover Institute? AEI? Where are the Freedom Vets and Move America Forward (or maybe to feed conspiracy theories, the PR firm for the Swift Boat Vets)? The answer is we're nowhere to be found. We've given up on MTV and their viewers and then blame it on the youth when they don't understand the conservative message.
We know the Democrats spent 2004 (and 2006) trying to scare young voters by telling that Republican wars were going to lead to a military draft. The story, though denied by all major Republicans, is an effective tactic, and though we deny it in the major papers and on blogs - what happens when MTV tells the story?
If we're serious about combatting the liberal message, web-savvy conservative organizations have to get in the game.
It starts at Rock the Vote, but that's just one website. Where else are we dropping the ball with our youth?
