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Get out the hip-hop vote - campaign to register young African Americans to vote - Column
National Review, Oct 14, 1996 by William F. Buckley, Jr.
NEW YORK, AUGUST 21
Two news releases advise us of current exercises in democratic practice. The first is an enterprise its sponsors call the "hip-hop nation." It is specifically directed to "keep African-Americans involved in American politics."
Rock the Vote has joined with L.L. Cool J's Camp Cool Foundation and together they have created the Hip Hop Coalition for Political Change. The objective is young African-Americans and the design is to attract their attention in every city on the R. Kelley/L.L. Cool J tour, plus a series of television and radio public-service announcements "featuring the likes of Will Smith, Kadeem Hardison, Coolio, Method Man, a reunited New Edition, Shai, Solo, Mokensteff, and many others." The coalition, reports Softline Information Inc.'s The Ethnic NewsWatch, "plans to get the message out to the Black community that it's time to take part in the struggle and make a difference."
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Meanwhile, the New York Times informs us of the program of a nonprofit organization financed by the recording industry "that revved up the youth vote in 1992." Rock the Vote has launched a service that will fill out voter-registration forms for callers who dial 800-REGISTER, or 800-734-4783.
Here is what you do. You dial the number and a voice asks you to tap in your zip code. A voice then reads to you the requirements of the state you live in (it is kindergarten work for a computer to deduce your state from your zip). You are then asked your name and date of birth.
You are then congratulated. In about ten days a completed form arrives in the mail. Rock the Vote even supplies the stamp. "A new voter is born," the Times reports. One week before the election, the freshly registered voter will receive a postcard, reminding him to vote. The program, based in Santa Monica, California, hopes to register 500,000 new voters by September 10. The cost of the enterprise is borne by MCI, the communications company, in cooperation with MTV, the television station that features rock music and other saturnalia.
Now all of this has become possible owing to the national Voter Registration Act (the "motor-voter law"). The idea (the Democrats', primarily) was to diminish the clerical burden on the voter. The Act specifies that states must accept voter-registration forms by mail. And further, that motor-vehicle departments, which is where practically everybody turns up at some point or another, must serve as registration agencies. Get a driver's license, register to vote.
The assumption, of course, is that an increase in the number of votes means a marginal increase in Democratic votes. This is quite obvious in the operation of the Hip Hop Coalition, inasmuch as it is explicitly directed to "young African-Americans." Since American blacks vote over 90 per cent Democratic, it isn't likely that adding black votes will do other than enhance Democratic chances.
The Rock the Vote people aren't saying it in as many words, but you know, and I know, that the assumption is that MTV types will, without any interruption in rhythm, be attracted to free-form politics, in this case nicely summarized by the formula, A meets with B to decide how much C should give to D.
The get-out-the-vote fetishists are always declining to make the fundamental distinction, which is between voting for the commonweal, and voting for one's singular interests. It is certainly true that there is as high a percentage of rich people who vote for policies that favor rich people as of poor people who vote for policies that favor the poor. The rich farmer is likely to vote in favor of a continuation of subsidies, the poor farmer in favor of free health care. The moral tale could be lightly made if for instance after you dialed the 800 number and gave your date of birth the voice at the other end of the line were to say, in computer-tone:
"That means, Mr. Squires, that you were 32 years old on your last birthday. Are you registering to vote for the first time? If so please record which of the following is the motivating impulse that brought you today to the phone, answer A, B, or C. a) I didn't know how to register until I saw this ad. b) I reflected that the time has come to do my civic duty. c) I want to vote for the party that's promising me higher wages/higher pension/better health-care benefits/higher tariffs."
The caller is always free to hang up. Though maybe the next National Voter Register Act will make that illegal.
COPYRIGHT 1996 National Review, Inc.
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