(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Yes, the GOP can be saved, and we can help make sure it isn’t [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-31 Let’s be frank, older white folks in rural areas are full on MAGA and ain’t ever coming over to the side of better healthcare. But what about young folks? Everyone knows, if you want a good job, you gotta go to the city. That’s hard. You have to live around all these Woke folks. Living around others, more time than not, changes your perspectives. So how can we help young people come out and vote for a candidate that has their wellbeing in mind? By being better at our messaging. I have to admit when a sales pitch has won me over. I’ll never forget it, a billboard of a good deal at a fast food place, once did. I remarked to myself how well it worked. Simple, and to the point. For $4, I would be full, have options, and be happier. You’re dang right I made it a point to exit when I had to, and go where they told me to go. So what does it cost to get a young voter to come out and vote for us when a lot of them don’t even want to see tomorrow? Let alone what might happen in 2-3 years IF everything happens the way we wish. Yes, a little gloomy, but if you’ve been around young people, you get it. Cheap meds and sex. Vote dem and healthcare will be cheaper and you’ll be able to live your live more to the ways you want to live it. Can’t argue against it and it’s true in every way. That won’t necessarily get them to vote, but it’s the sales pitch. For your vote, you will get the things you need and want, for a low, low price of your vote. So how do we get them to vote? Go where they are. No young people are visiting DailyKos. They just aren’t and they won’t be in its current form. Yes, we have the news that middle aged and older folks like, and in the way they like them. AP articles that fill in the gaps that others would fill before “The Purge”. But no amount of money Kos throws at this blog will bring young eyeballs here. YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. AOC and others are leading the way on this. So why isn’t the best blog for Democrats on the internet, doing it? It’s hard. It’s scary. Just like a dude out on the prairie, moving to the city. Lots to learn and it all sucks. Easier to go back to the small town and be a bigger fish. So too, is this blog, being like that rural voter. The big fish of information, in a small pond of voters. So what do we need to do? Somethings could improve here, but the years DK have been around, speak for themselves, so not a ton. It can be the background of information with our vast resources of knowledge, that is pretty well sourced, and full of data driven analysis. But the young folks aren’t seeing our add, because they’re not driving by. We might as well be a billboard out on an old country road. We need to drive viewers here, of all ages. But one demographic has never heard of us. The young voter. Here’s the rub, it all costs money. From everyone from Kos on down. Money needs to be spent on creating the billboards (online content), where young people are. That takes form in video messaging that very few people on this site are good at. And it’s very hard to do well. Money needs to be spent outside of traditional means, in ways that are very different than they have in the past. Yes, be the devil of influence through the ways in which many older folks harbor distasteful opinions. A media outreach of video and digital content creation, using platforms that younger people are spending TONS of time on. Make and pay for this content. In addition, have a series where people here can bounce ideas, and content, around. To be tuned and amplified, by us and other creators, led by Kos/staff. The comics here slap, but it’s for a bygone era. A digital marketplace of Left themes and ideas is needed here. And to publish this content on the major social platforms. Seams like a DailyKos billboard along the busiest of highways, would do wonders in driving eyeballs here. In addition, and it’s not going to be easy, but I think DailyKos should invest in creating a GOTV app that drives electing more and better Democrats. An app an older person can ask a younger person to download. “hey I know you want better healthcare, would you mind downloading this app with me? It’s only about helping you vote, so that you and I, can both have better health. I’ll also help you jump through the hoops you didn’t even know existed, to vote.” Having an ability to vote isn’t easier on young folks than it is with older folks. Hell, an argument could be made it is even harder for young people to vote. People that live at a house are in contact with more traditional means of campaigns to scare them into voting. Nursing homes have staff and family to help them, have tons of info and resources to vote. Young folks have so many things in their life that takes precedence in the day of voting. From work and school alone, voting on Election Day can easily be disregarded. Remember, through all the fun young people have, it is a very lonely and unhelpful place. Having an older person help them through, is what most young people wish they had. For one reason or another, they lack this help. What can you do? Unless you are good at creating video content, you have your physical body to help. So, I propose a National drive to help a young person to the polls. How could this be set up? Let’s say there is an app, call it “Vote With Me”. it pairs a young voter with an older voter, that has the ability to drive a voter to a polling station. Or how about this, the app has all the dates on everything a voter should know about voting earlier. If two people are paired, and the mail-in voting has started, the “helper” can help a young voter turn in a ballot. Maybe even helper gets a coin. Let’s say a helper can get 4 paired young folks to send in an early ballot, then they climb the ladder on the ranking list. Then, on Election Day, they can help literally drive young folks to the polls. Ever increasing their position of how many people they helped vote, on the ranking list on the app. A helpful competition to see, out of your friends, for whom helped saving democracy the most. “I was able to help 3 new voters with sending in a ballot!” Wait, just like climate change, I have to be responsible for others? Well heck yeah! A great way we can move this country, is by you using our thumbs on an app, to increase voter turnout. The main thing is, people need to want the app. No point in making the thing, if no one is going to download it. So say it like this, “if you want better healthcare, download this app, pair with a person, and vote”. If it’s easy to use, and only gets alerts about upcoming ways to vote, then it will be used. I definitely could handle being paired with 5 people. Help them with what info, dates, and help they need. If I only got one person to vote, then I just potentially doubled my vote, with a voter that was too busy, or was scared off. Remember, voting for the first time can be scary for people. I know it was to me. On aside, I think everyone should have one person they can cover to vote on Election Day. Making sure co-workers feel like you can cover for them while they go vote. Picking up the slack, or taking a responsibility off their hands, so they feel like they have the time to go vote. Cook dinner, babysit, clean their place up the weekend before. We have to work at these values we so passionately have . If we say democracy is on the line, then we need to start preparing for that right now. Make plans on what you can do, and hold yourself accountable. Just like the little steps we do in our own lives everyday, to help mitigate the damage we’re doing to the planet, so too must we do the little things, for democracy. Again, hold yourself accountable. I know every time I have voted, I wish I could have done more. So, we must do more in our own lives to dismantle MAGA, and I hope I have given some ideas that will be taken up by Kos, and YOU 🫵 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/31/2202762/-Yes-the-GOP-can-be-saved-and-it-s-our-fault?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/