by Jane Eisner
Knight Ridder-Tribune
On Thursday evening, MTV will depart from its usual fare of grinding music videos and shrieking, bare-bellied teenagers to present a half-hour news special tackling the issue of sexual education in the schools.
The show will visit a conservative community in Lubbock, Texas, and hear from young people who support comprehensive sex ed, then zoom over to two star football players who will explain why they have made "virginity pledges."
It's a new kind of voter registration drive. Really.
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The cable television station that pioneered "Rock the Vote" to galvanize the nation's young in the 1992 presidential election has found that there's little benefit in sustaining a traditional voter registration drive in off-year elections. So MTV hit on another idea: Focus on an issue near and dear to the hearts of its viewers, and use that to drive these new voters to the polls.
And in all its surveys, MTV found that sexual health trumped education, terrorism, drugs, alcohol and even crime as a concern for young people.
So have you heard about this issue in the tightening governor's race in Pennsylvania? Only when queried did the key party nominees offer their answers: Democrat Ed Rendell says he favors abstinence-based education, including discussion of birth control and disease prevention. Republican Mike Fisher wants abstinence to be taught, but would leave the details to local school boards.
A debilitating cycle is at work in modern-day politics. Young people don't register and don't vote because they're alienated from the political world. But since they don't vote, candidates aren't inclined to spend precious time and advertising resources courting them.
Parents, teachers, coaches and employers also don't do nearly enough to encourage 18-year-olds to exercise their precious franchise. In a society that eagerly marks other rites of passage, the First Vote is greeted by a collective yawn.
This is not an immutable fact of life. It can be changed, one person, one television show, one campaign ad at a time.
First, if you turn 18 by Nov. 5 and have not yet registered, do it. Now. The deadline in Pennsylvania is next Monday. The deadline in New Jersey is Oct. 9. Pretend this is as important as registering for a driver's license. C'mon, just pretend.
Second, if you have a child or a student who is eligible to vote, be a grown-up, for goodness sake. All the research shows that parents are the great predictors of whether a new voter will actually vote, with teachers a close second. Engage them in the issues. Be a citizen yourself.
And if you're a candidate, pay attention! Young people are the nation's largest block of unclaimed voters - independent thinkers, concerned about the same issues that older voters care about, but not ones to be preached to or manipulated. Weaned on TV and the Internet, they know when they are being patronized. Or ignored.
These potential voters also identify strongly with volunteering and service. "Their hot button is community involvement. The more a candidate can make the case of being a community problem solver and a community volunteer, the better the chance of winning these voters," write David Skaggs and Adam Anthony, of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Council for Excellence in Government.
This experience with community service has a profound effect on many young people. They're used to grappling with local issues, to see the benefit of their civic activities first-hand. But too many don't take the next step and vote.
"If we talk about the importance of voting in and of itself, it falls flat. It has to touch their lives," says Stephen Friedman, MTV's vice president for strategic partnerships.
"But when we localize the topic, and connect the local action with a national issue, then they're interested in voting. That's why our theme is: Get registered to vote. It could save your life."
So, go ahead. Register to vote. It could save your life.
Jane Eisner is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may write to her at the Philadelphia Inquirer, P.O. Box 8263, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101, or send e-mail to jeisner@phillynews.com.
