Time to reverse the Great Schlep

My friend Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By is calling for what she calls the "The Great Elder Email Schlep." In 2008, comedian Sarah Silverman urged young voters to trek to Miami to encourage their grand parents to turn out for Barack Obama.

This year, older people are more likely to tell pollsters they intend to vote than younger people. So it's time to turn the Great Schlep around.

The people who will suffer worst if large numbers of Republicans win office and refuse to do anything to move the country toward prosperity are mostly not elders. These young people will see their schools cut classes so they can't get the courses they need; they won't be able to find jobs because few are being created; they'll find they have to move back in with their parents, hoping somehow the country turns around.

Most elders are related to these young people -- they had to come from somewhere. Ronni says:

You don't need to travel to Florida or anywhere else; email and the telephone will work just fine. The idea is to convince your grandchildren, nieces and nephews in that 18 to 29 age range to get out and vote.

Talk to them about the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to vote. Track down online information about contests in their states and send links. Find the polling places for their homes and send the addresses.

...Make a nuisance of yourself for the next week until the election with those young, potential voters. If you have Twitter and Facebook accounts, use them too. Pull out all the stops. Let them know how disappointed grandma or grandpa will be in them if they don't vote.

Now we're talking!