Student Voting Rights

I
feel like I’ve been really testing the adage “it’s better late than
never� on this blog lately. Anyway, I was recently reminded of a group
that I vaguely knew about that did a lot of great work during the 2004
election – the Student Voting Rights Campaign.
With Eugene Kang running in Ann Arbor I’ve been thinking about voting
rights more frequently these days. Go check out their site. Their their listserv archives is in particular a great treasure-trove of student voting information. From their about page:

So
long as students are systematically discouraged or prevented from
engaging in electoral politics in the communities that they call home,
we will have less young people on the voter rolls, we will have less
vibrancy and innovation in our local politics, we will raise more
citizens who become politically apathetic adults, we will retain a
needlessly vast cultural age gap, our government will be less
responsive to the concerns of the young and we will have a weaker
democracy than we deserve.

One of the founders of
the organization, Ellen Kolasky, wrote a report for the League of
Conservation Voters Education Fund last summer that I blogged about in September
on the suppression of student voting rights. When I went to find a copy
of the report online it was nowhere to be seen, but I tracked down an
electronic copy from LCVEF:

> “Not Home, Not Welcome: Barriers To Student Voters� (PDF)

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Vote For Eugene Kang August 2

Eugene Kang
is a native Ann Arbor resident who is running for Ann Arbor’s City
Council from Ward 2. He is a 21-year-old University of Michigan senior.
If elected, he would be the first undergraduate on the City Council in
many years. He is running against a former Republican mayoral candidate
Stephen Rapundalo in an August 2 Democratic primary.
Ward 2 includes Mary Markley, Couzens, Alice Lloyd, Stockwell, the
Linden Street area and all the neighborhoods northeast of Washtenaw
Avenue. To register to vote or check your registration or polling
location, call the city clerk at 734-994-2725.

> Contact the Kang campaign at kangforcitycouncil (at) gmail.com or (734) 972-7254.
> View his platform
> Read articles printed by the Ann Arbor News and the Michigan Daily about his candidacy
> Join the Kang for Council Facebook Group

—–

Eugene Kang’s Platform for A2 Council

The
Kang campaign just sent me a piece of literature they have been
distributing in Ward 2 with a letter from Eugene and his platform for
City Council. Here’s the text:

EUGENE KANG FOR WARD 2:
WAKE UP THE CITY COUNCIL!

Dear Neighbor,

My
name is Eugene Kang, and I am running for Ann Arbor City Council. I am
proud to have lived in Ann Arbor for my entire life. And I am proud to
have spent almost my entire life right here in Ward 2.

Many
people have asked me why I want to run for office. The answer is
simple: I want to give back to this wonderful community. I attended
King Elementary School and Greenhills School for 6-12th grades. Next
year I’ll be a Senior at the University of Michigan, majoring in
English and Philosophy.

I am energetic, dedicated, and I know
I have a lot to learn. I hope that I can serve a unique role as someone
connected to both U of M students and to the greater Ann Arbor
community. Because the City Council should be more responsive to your
concerns, I have launched a precinct-by-precinct listening tour.
Together, we can make Ann Arbor an even greater place to live.

As
a lifelong resident of this community, I am aware of the challenges
facing Ann Arbor. And, on the next page, I have identified key areas in
which I plan to focus my attention. I look forward to listening to your
concerns and working for you in the future.

Sincerely,
Eugene Kang

And his platform:

Increasing Fiscal Responsibility
• Our city budget has been in deficit for the past five years and
expenses are expected to exceed revenue for at least the next two
years. We need to close this gap – but not on the backs of taxpayers
who are already paying more than their fair share.
• The cost of living in Ann Arbor is already significantly higher than
that of similar cities in the Midwest, and higher taxes will only make
it more difficult for people, especially new homeowners, to remain in
our City.
• I am committed to balancing Ann Arbor’s budget and look forward to
meeting with you to discuss your priorities and listen to your ideas.

Making Ann Arbor More Affordable
• Making Ann Arbor a more affordable place to live is critical to the
City’s future. We cannot allow our middle-class and economically
disadvantaged citizens to be pushed out of our City because of sky-high
housing prices.
• Ann Arbor spends $5.6 million dollars a year to discourage Ann Arbor
residents from moving away. Unfortunately, we spend only 10% of that
amount to encourage people to live in our City by making housing more
affordable.
• To curtail urban sprawl and enable people who work in Ann Arbor to
live here as well, we must provide incentives for residents to remain
in the City.

A Practical Approach to Downtown Density
• Downtown density is inextricably connected to the issue of affordable
housing. While I recognize that building taller structures downtown
would create more space for residential and commercial enterprises, I
am sympathetic to how these structures would change the downtown
aesthetic.
• I support a pragmatic case-by-case approach that would carefully
consider each proposal and weigh the benefits of density with the costs
to aesthetics. It is Ann Arbor’s sense of community that makes it so
special. We must not alter the City’s unique appeal as we work to make
sure as many people as possible can afford to enjoy the Downtown area.

Listening to Every Voice
• The Arbor City Council is not representative of Ann Arbor’s
population. University of Michigan students are Ann Arbor residents.
Their views should be represented on the City Council. An accusation
often leveled against my generation is that we are politically
apathetic. My peers and I are working hard to change this perception.
• Young people do care about politics and I believe that the student body does care about the greater Ann Arbor community.

Contact us at kangforcitycouncil at gmail.com or (734) 972-7254

> Download a PDF of the Flyer Here
> See my coverage of the Kang campaign
> See my viewpoint in the Daily: “A Perfect Storm Brewing in City Politics�

—–

‘You have to reframe the issues before the facts can become meaningful and powerful.’

These excerpts are from an interview of George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley linguistics professor who wrote “Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think,” and is working on a forthcoming book titled “”Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate.”

“In another chapter I tell progressives how to talk to conservatives. This is not rocket science: you should show respect, know your values, always reframe, and say what you believe. The important thing is not to accept their framing of the issues, nor just negate their framing � that just reinforces it. Simply confronting them with facts won’t help. Frames trump facts. The facts alone will not set you free. You have to reframe the issues before the facts can become meaningful and powerful.

Some conservatives are ideologues and you’re not going to sway them. But most conservatives are nice people. What you want to do is activate their nurturing model, engage their empathy. Ask them who they care about, what they care about, and why. Find out where their empathy lies. Connect with the part of them that shares your values, and get that to spread to other issues.

[...]

You’ve said that progressives should never use the phrase “war on terror” � why?

There are two reasons for that. Let’s start with “terror.” Terror is a general state, and it’s internal to a person. Terror is not the person we’re fighting, the “terrorist.” The word terror activates your fear, and fear activates the strict father model, which is what conservatives want. The “war on terror” is not about stopping you from being afraid, it’s about making you afraid.

Next, “war.” How many terrorists are there � hundreds? Sure. Thousands? Maybe. Tens of thousands? Probably not. The point is, terrorists are actual people, and relatively small numbers of individuals, considering the size of our country and other countries. It’s not a nation-state problem. War is a nation-state problem.

> Read more from the interview (via George)