Pushing Politics on Young People Proves a Hard Sell

Sixteen-year-old Adam likes the Libertarian idea of no taxes, follows the Whitewater hearings on C-Span and has unprintable things to say about Clinton, preferring Dole, if he were interested in voting at all, which he is not.

Sporting bleached, upright hair in a fashion dubbed “liberty spikes,” the Glendale youth who called himself “Ronald McMurder” was among hundreds drawn Saturday to a free concert and voter-registration campaign at the Media City Center. Like many others, he expressed an utter disdain for politics.

The event may have been designed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of 18-year-olds winning the right to vote, but many youths interviewed said it was a right they would rather forgo.

Even a self-professed advocate of voting who volunteers for the Libertarian Party said he had the same low opinion of government as many of his peers. Said 18-year-old Stephen Friedman, a recent Monroe High School graduate bound this fall for Georgetown University in Washington:

“I’m heading for the cesspool.”

Still, organizers of the event, sponsored by the nonprofit group Rock the Vote, tried their darndest to gently lure such cynics to the political process by talking to them in their own language.

“You don’t let other people choose your music, why let them choose your future?” proclaimed a mock ballot handed out at voter-registration tables.

Another Rock the Vote slogan: “Take the law into your own hands--register and vote.”

The group’s executive director, Ricky Seidman, said young people don’t vote because “they don’t see how voting will make a difference and change their lives.”

Rock the Vote was widely credited with sparking a major surge in voting among young people in the 1992 presidential election, an accomplishment the group hopes to replicate this year.

Although drawn to the Media City Center by the free music from live bands such as Meal Ticket, the young crowd strolled past booths where political party workers, candidates and other activists handed out campaign buttons, stickers and candy.

Campaign volunteers also mingled with the crowd, hoping to win votes for candidates ranging from President Clinton and Bob Dole to Libertarian presidential hopeful Harry Broome.

State and federal legislative candidates shook hands and passed out literature in their own hopes of snagging young supporters.

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In many cases, it was a hard sell.

GOP congressional candidate Paul Stepanek, for instance, was talking to a group of high schoolers. The youths were proud of their good grades, but expressed complete alienation from the political system.

“I don’t have enough confidence in anyone to vote,” said Travis Clark of Sherman Oaks. Another group of four Valley high school boys showed their disdain by changing the first word on their Rock the Vote stickers to an unprintable vulgarity.

Even those who registered to vote were disillusioned with the political system.

“It’s never going to change,” said Eugene Ong, 18, a recent Glendale High graduate headed for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Still, the newly registered Republican said, “You can’t blame anyone until you vote.”