The thing that bothers me MOST about Rock the Vote is the fact that they try to pass themselves off as a nonpartisan group, trying to stimulate voter awareness amongst young people. Rock the Vote tries do to this through a number of different media, such as through recommended readings , pairing up with other non profit non partisan agencies, and through sponsoring music/cinema icons to tell you what to vote for.* Let's debunk this myth of the bi-partisan media charade and explore how RTV is completely disingenuous in their claims to political neutrality.
BOOKS!! I'm trusting that by now you've clicked on the recommended readings section. Go ahead a browse around. Do those books look like good non-partisan books with no political agenda whatsoever? Not likely. Take Dispatches from the Culture Wars by liberal radio demagogue Danny Goldberg. This guy is so liberal it's unreal. Danny Goldberg, as of Feb 2005, is the CEO of liberal talk radio network Air America Radio. Since taking office last year, he's made it clear that he wants to make sure to increase the network's advertising and public awareness and to get it aired in 90% of the country. America immersed in liberal radio rubbish? That doesn't smack of nonpartisanship. It turns out Goldberg isn't even that good of a CEO. Since Goldberg's arrival at the progressive talk network, he has been the object of blame for numerous decisions that have sparked controversy among Air America's fans, such as dropping hosts Lizz Winstead and Marc Maron (formerly of Morning Sedition). Citing this guy's book as a recommended read doesn't seem to be politically neutral to me. Not convinced?
Check out the Political Action Handbook (the full title, not displayed on RTV.com is the Political Action Handbook, a How-To Guide for the Hip Hop Generation) by Dr. Maya Rockeymoore . Rockeymoore, a noted Democrat activitst** has constructed an Anarchist's Cookbook of sorts for the Hip Hop generation. From how to's on how to demand your rights and how to protest the current admisistration, Rockeymoore provides the 'disenfranchised' youth of today some feedback on how to fightback against a Republican dominated Democracy. Nonpartisan reading? Give me a break. If this woman and Goldberg got together and made a baby, they could name it something like Stalin, or Lenin, or Disaffected Black Youth...you know, something with a little ring to it.
The other books follow suit, you'll just have to take my word for it because I'm too fired up to write more about them. Read them if you want to, but I wouldn't necessarily put them on a recommended reading list.
Another of the most blatant mis-uses of the word 'nonpartisan' pertains to RTV's description of it's offical non-profit backers, or partners . I went through and just did a little bit of re-hee-hee-search on some of these so called nonpartisan non-profit organizations. Wouldn't you know it, most of these organizations are directly tied either to the Democratic/Socialist party, funds from either party, or the endorsement of said parties and their constituents. If I had all day, I could recount to you how seditious these groups are in their presuppositions of political neutrality. If you really want to look into it yourself, head on over to Discover the Network and check it out. Anyway, here are some highlights for you. This is unbelievable:
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN):
ACORN drew national attention during the 2004 election campaign, when its get-out-the-vote activists turned up at the center of numerous reports of voter fraud, especially in the swing states of Ohio, Colorado, Missouri Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Minnesota. Election crimes allegedly perpetrated by activists from ACORN and from its front group Project Vote include, but are not limited to, the following:
•Falsifying thousands of voter registration forms, either by registering the same person multiple times or by registering deceased or imaginary people
•Hiring canvassers to collect registration forms from Democratic voters, while destroying those of Republican voters
•Registering convicted felons, even in states where felons are ineligible to vote (Meghan Clyne, "ACORN & the Money Tree: Taxpayer Money Helps Fund Voter Fraud," National Review Online, 31 October 2004; "ACORN: Voter Registration Fraud Allegations are Just the Tip of the Iceberg," PR Newswire, Employment Policies Institute, 13 October 2004)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU):
•Largest labor union in the AFL-CIO
•Committed $65 million to defeating President George W. Bush in the 2004 election
•Advocates government expansion for the purpose of coercing increased taxes for the public sector
•Gives millions of dollars to Democratic lawmakers and politicians who promote government expansion and higher taxes
•Union organizer Andrew Stern is the current president
League of Women Voters:
•Ostensibly nonpartisan organization that in fact supports the leftwing political agendas
•Supports abortion-on-demand
•Supports "motor-voter" registration, which allows anyone with a driver's license to become a voter, regardless of citizenship status
•Supports gun control, tax hikes, and socialized medicine
•Supports unrestricted immigration
Alliance for Justice
Founded in 1975 by Nan Aron, Alliance For Justice (AFJ) describes itself as "a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations." All of these member groups push leftwing agendas. AFJ believes "that the public's interest is best served when the policies of government result from a dialogue involving not just the decision-makers but also those whose lives are directly [a]ffected by such decisions." Since President Bush first took office, AFJ has deemed that the "public's best interest" requires the commissioning of an "independent judiciary," and to this end, the group has been systematically opposed to each and every one of President Bush's judicial appointments, despite their extensive qualifications. Alliance for Justice is an ideological organization dedicated to leftwing agendas and opposes Bush appointees because of their conservative ideology.
People for the American Way:
•Wages perennial smear campaigns against non-leftist judicial nominees
•Works in partnership with the Democratic Party
•Monitors activities of "right wing" groups
•Played key role in creating United For Peace and Justice
(Oh you want to know about United for Peace and Justice just for fun? OK!)
•Anti-American, anti-war coalition consisting of more than 800 local and national groups
•Co-chaired by committed Socialist and longtime activist Leslie Cagan
•"The Bush Administration has sought to use aggressive military action…to forcibly dominate the world and impose right-wing policies at home under the cover of fighting terrorism."
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP):
•Ranked by the Capital Research Center as being ideologically near-radical in their leftist goals and agendas
•After being removed from office under allegations that he had pocketed over $60,000 from the coffers of the NAACP, former executive director Ben Chavis blames "forces outside the African American community" for his demise, prominent among which were "right-wing Jewish groups." Hmmmmmm.
I could go on and on and on and on people. The benefactors of RTV have an agenda to push and a fleece to pull over your eyes. No where in the litany of suggested readings and nonprofit partner organizations do you see a moderate, let alone Conservative representation. Never do you see conservative personalities in print, radio, or television campaigns with Rock the Vote. Coincidence? I think not. Essentially, conservatism has no place in the "get out the vote" strategy of Rock the Vote. RTV wants you to register to vote if you're going to vote Democrat, or if your ideals fall in line with their narrowminded view of the political process.
If you're sick now, wait until next time. You should SEE what Rock the Vote is doing with YOUR money!!
*(this probably merits a whole separate blog as to why the opinion of a celebrity is canonized among the leftist elite in this country. What more does Justin Timberlake or Leonardo DiCaprio know about voting than you or I? Probably nothing, if not less. Why do we deify these people's opinions, these who makes their living on depicting fiction and making it believable? Hmmm. I'd guess it's because un-reality is actually more exciting than real life, and also that RTV has failed in its mission to start a self-perpetuating youth mobilization towards more political activism. That's a stab in the dark, and also a digression)
** (VP Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, served as the Senior Resident Scholar for Health and Income Security at the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality, advisor to Mel Watt (D-NC) and Charles Rangel (D-NY), etc.)
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
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2 comments:
Andrew,
I will be the first to admit that Rock the Vote is stupid, and you are really just voting for two old rich white dudes who only like other older rich white dudes. That being said, you took all your info from a blatanly conservative website. How can you then draw a line between your actions of pandering to the conservatives and Sean "P-Dizzle for Rizzle" "I hit J LO when she was still relavent" "I totally wasn't going to shoot anyone at that club" Combs. Mr. Combs (not the good one, Jeffery) did the same thing with a liberal slant. Bring it.
Colin
Well that's kind of my point! Every organization has a slant. And a slant is cool if you're going to be up front about it. I make no bones about the fact that I'm a conservative and think that Rock the Vote panders to would-be liberal voters. I'd hope that people who share my similar viewpoint would act based on what I have to say. I think Rock the Vote should just come out and say "We are an organization that predicates itself upon empowering the youth of America to vote for democrats". I'd be totally ok with it, and then I'd try to tear them down from another angle. I can't stand when a group fronts like it is a nonpartisan groups when them implicitly favor one political party over another with their nonprofit pairings, their disregard for moderate political readings, the population demographic targeting, and their drumming up nonissues and making them seemingly pertinent to the existence of America.
To give you, perhaps, a personally relevant example, consider the following. It's like that one time Mrs. Beck was like "I saw those boys having a circle jerk after band practice" and we really weren't having a circle jerk...then she tried to play it off like she didn't have a vester interest in seeing our fall from the tops of High School Olympus. She totally did, and if she was more up front about it, I may have even indulged one of her stories just for the heck of it. But because of her disingenuousness, I think she totally sucks now.
Also
1) in ya face!!!
and
2) I can't wait for vacation this summer!
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