About What's Your Plan?
For the past three elections, we’ve turned out in big numbers:
The evidence also shows that when politicians talk to young people, we will vote even more. In 2006, turnout was six times the national young adult average in college-based precincts that were targeted with youth get-out-the-vote programs. Young people are going to vote in 2008 and will vote even more if the Presidential candidates target young people. Not just with big smiles and empty rhetoric, but with substance, engaging us in conversations about the issues we care about. Issues like global warming, college affordability, health care, and financial security. These are critical issues, and we’re the generation who will be most affected by them. So we’re not waiting for the candidates to come to us - we’re going directly to them and asking one simple question: “What’s Your Plan?” on global warming. On college affordability. On affordable health care. And on financial security.
The Issues
Global Warming Global warming is happening, and if we don’t act fast, the consequences will be severe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body that assesses global warming research, found that the evidence of global warming is “unequivocal” and human activities are responsible for most of the increase in global temperatures. We are already seeing early signs of climate change with melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and increasingly severe storms and droughts. College AffordabilityAn affordable college education is becoming obsolete for millions of Americans. States have cut college budgets in the last decade, so tuition has increased while financial aid programs have failed to keep pace. Meanwhile ancillary college costs have skyrocketed, exacerbating the problem. Now, students are forced to take on unmanageable debt – over $19,000 in college loans. In total, this debt burden increasingly shuts out students from the lowest incomes from a college degree and restricts graduates’ career choices. Health CareThe price of doctor visits, prescription drug prices and other basic medical needs is out of control. This puts even the simplest health care basics out of reach for many young people, while one medical emergency can throw a young person just starting out on her own into crippling debt. Financial SecurityThere are numerous ways in which financial security is out of reach for many young people. Credit card companies ensnare young people with manipulative terms and conditions that pile on debt and ruin credit ratings. Payday loan stores lure customers with the promise of easy money, and then trap young people with usurious payback rates.
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