Publius' Forum

-By Warner Todd Huston





For the laugher of the week, Richard Morin of the Washington Post has revealed the evil machinations of a destroyer of political participation among our youth. He asks, is Jon Stewart an Enemy of Democracy?




Morin writes:

This is not funny: Jon Stewart and his hit Comedy Central cable show may be poisoning democracy.

Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart's faux news program, "The Daily Show," develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.

I say, I sure hope so.

I am not one of those who fall all over themselves to appeal to those under 25 to get themselves to the polls to vote. Aristotle once said that no one under 50 should study philosophy, presumably because they just would not be learned enough or saturated with enough life experiences to have a chance to fully grasp the delicate reasonings of the philosopher's art, and I feel that voting should be treated in a similar light -- though 50 is a bit long in the tooth to begin voting, it should be said.

With few exceptions, those under 25 are neither experienced nor knowledgeable enough to understand the issues that must guide their vote. Kids of this age just haven't the sense of history, breadth of policy awareness, nor the ability to understand interactions with other people to make an informed vote. And our votes are too important to be left to the uninformed.

So, if Jon Stewart is keeping uninformed, half literate, historically ignorant, pop culture steeped, non-entities like most of those who are under the age of 25 from the polls.... then I say he is doing a service to the country.

After all, don't forget what Churchill said... "If you're not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you aren't a conservative at 40 you have no brain." (Well, OK. He didn't say it, but everyone SAYS he did.)

Harsh, you say? Well, my position certainly is one that many whiners would call "ageist". But, I stand by it. It was a huge mistake to lower the voting age form 21 to 18 years ago. It was just another blatant attempt by the liberals to glom onto a voting block. After all, they assumed that all those under 21 would be on their side being bleeding heart youngsters and all.

Besides, few under 25 take advantage of the opportunity to vote anyway, so why bother?

And, since we no longer teach people what it even MEANS to vote, what their civic duties are, even what the Constitution means, we are relying on ever less informed youngsters to go to the polls to cast an uninformed vote.

So, let's encourage Jon Stewart to keep these stupid voters from the polls.

Jon Stewart, "You GO, boy!"

(Count down to the youngsters whipping up a caterwauling...5...4...3...2...1...)