Election Reform

Election Reform http://tcf.org/elections/rss-2/rss The Century Foundation has been at the forefront of efforts to reform the voting system since the issue entered the national discourse after the 2000 presidential election. In 2001, the foundation cosponsored the National Commission on Federal Election Reform. The Commission's final report modeled for important measures in the Help America Vote Act. Our current work in this area focuses on the promises and potential pitfalls of future elections, and on what that means for our democratic process. 2012-02-21T20:30:32Z vice What You Missed - May 2011 urn:syndication:c4eaf159-913b-11e0-b5ff-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2011/what-you-missed-may-2011 What you missed from The Century Foundation in May of 2011. 2012-02-09T16:42:45Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>What you missed from The Century Foundation in May of 2011.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2011/what-you-missed-may-2011/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>What you missed from The Century Foundation in May of 2011. View other videos from the <a class="internal-link" href="../../special-projects/series/what-you-missed">What You Missed</a> series.</p></div> </body> </html> Duty Free urn:syndication:ec4b754c-41f0-11e1-b4c3-002219154821 http://botc.tcf.org/2012/01/duty-free.html Senior Fellow Richard C. Leone writes on the fallout of Citizens United and the campaign process. 2012-01-18T15:47:00Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Senior Fellow Richard C. Leone writes on the fallout of Citizens United and the campaign process.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/in-the-news/2012/1/duty-free/image" /> <span></span> </div> <p>http://botc.tcf.org/2012/01/duty-free.html</p> <div><p>Senior Fellow Richard C. Leone writes on the fallout of Citizens United and the campaign process.</p></div> </body> </html> PolicyCast: Tova Wang on Voting Rights in 2011 urn:syndication:a622bbb3-3222-11e1-853c-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb9698883301543914b791970c TCF Fellow Tova Wang, and author of forthcoming book The Politics of Voter Suppression, discusses the State of Voting Rights in 2011. 2012-01-03T16:19:37Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> TCF Fellow Tova Wang, and author of forthcoming book The Politics of Voter Suppression, discusses the State of Voting Rights in 2011.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb9698883301543914b791970c/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p><span>TCF Fellow Tova Wang is the author of the forthcoming Century Foundation book published by Cornell University Press, </span><i>The Politics of Voter Suppression: Defending and Expanding Americans’ Right to Vote</i><span>. In this PolicyCast podcast Tova discusses the State of Voting Rights in 2011. </span></p> <p>Tova reviews recent events with voter ID and new restrictions on voter registration. She also finds a few bright spots for the year including the National Voter Registration Act (“motor voter”) and Election Day Registration victory in Maine.</p> <p><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/files/tova-wang-on-voting-rights.mp3" target="_self" title="Download Tova Wang on Voting Rights in 2011">Download it here</a> or listen to it now:</p> <p> </p> <p class="asset asset-audio at-xid-6a00e54ffb969888330162fe95a26b970d"><a class="inline-player" href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/files/tova-wang-on-voting-rights.mp3">Tova Wang on Voting Rights</a></p></div> </body> </html> The Year in Review: 2011 urn:syndication:3e5e7091-2a67-11e1-b0d5-002219154821 http://tcf.org/commentary/2011/the-year-in-review-2011 The Century Foundation fellows discuss the best and worst public policy issues and decisions of 2011. 2011-12-31T15:29:32Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>The Century Foundation fellows discuss the best and worst public policy issues and decisions of 2011.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/commentary/2011/the-year-in-review-2011/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>The Century Foundation fellows discuss the best and worst public policy issues and decisions of 2011:</p> <p><span class="messageBody"> </span><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/the-best-and-worst-news-for-progressives-in-2011.html">The Eight Best Developments for Progressives in 2011</a><span class="messageBody"> by Greg Anrig.</span></p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/the-best-and-worst-in-education-2011.html">The Best and Worst in Education 2011</a> by Richard Kahlenberg.</p> <p><span class="messageBody"><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/the-best-and-worst-of-2011-the-world.html">The Best and Worst of 2011: The World</a> by Jeffrey Laurenti</span></p> <p><span class="messageBody"><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/best-and-worst-health-policy-stories-of-2011.html">Best and Worst Health Policy Stories of 2011</a> by Harold Pollack</span></p> <p><span class="messageBody"><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/the-year-in-transnational-crime-and-corruption.html">2011 in Transnational Crime and Corruption</a> by Patrick Radden Keefe</span></p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/policycast-tova-wang-on-voting-rights-in-2011.html">Voting Rights in 2011</a>, Tova Wang on PolicyCast Podcast</p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-year-erdogan-6301">The Year of Erdogan</a>, by Morton Abramowitz (posted on <i>The National Interest</i>)</p> <p>Listen to podcasts:</p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/policycast-tova-wang-on-voting-rights-in-2011.html">Voting Rights in 2011</a><span>, Tova Wang on PolicyCast Podcast</span></p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/policycast-patrick-radden-keefe-discusses-the-roots-of-corruption.html">The Roots of Corruption</a>, with Patrick Radden Keefe</p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/policycast-harold-pollack-talks-health-policy-for-2011.html">Harold Pollack Talks Health Policy for 2011</a>, PolicyCast</p> <p><a class="external-link" href="http://botc.tcf.org/2011/12/policycast-richard-kahlenbergs-the-best-and-worst-in-education-for-2011.html">Richard Kahlenberg's the Best and Worst in Education 2011</a>, PolicyCast</p> <p> </p> <p><i style="text-align: left; ">Stay tuned for more.</i></p></div> </body> </html> Greg Anrig urn:syndication:ab7e8fe8-dae2-11df-8ce8-002219154821 http://tcf.org/about/fellows/greg-anrig-jr Greg Anrig, is Vice President for Programs who writes on employment and retiree benefits; Social Security solvency and reform; economic security; and tax reform. 2011-12-13T16:55:58Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Greg Anrig, is Vice President for Programs who writes on employment and retiree benefits; Social Security solvency and reform; economic security; and tax reform.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/about/fellows/greg-anrig-jr/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p><i>Follow on <a class="external-link" href="http://twitter.com/greganrig">Twitter. </a></i></p> <p>Greg Anrig is vice president, programs, at The Century Foundation. Since 1994, he has been responsible for overseeing The Century Foundation’s projects on public policy as well as its fellows. Previously, he was a staff writer and Washington correspondent for <i>Money </i>magazine. He is the author of <i>The Conservatives Have No Clothes: Why Right-Wing Ideas Keep Failing </i>(John Wiley & Sons, 2007). He is coeditor (with Tova Andrea Wang) of <i>Immigration’s New Frontiers: Experiences from the Emerging Gateway States </i>(The Century Foundation Press, 2006), in addition to the three collections of essays he co-edited (with Richard C. Leone): <a href="http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=PB&pubid=605"><i>Liberty Under Attack: Reclaiming Our Freedoms in an Age of Terror </i></a>(PublicAffairs, 2007); <i>The War on Our Freedoms: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism</i> (PublicAffairs, 2003); and <a href="http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=PB&pubid=130"><i>Social Security Reform: Beyond the Basics</i></a> (The Century Foundation Press, 1999). He also is a featured blogger on TPM Café and a regular columnist for the <i>Guardian Unlimited.</i></p></div> </body> </html> Tova Andrea Wang urn:syndication:be68d805-dbc4-11df-8231-002219154821 http://tcf.org/about/fellows/tova-andrea-wang Tova Andrea Wang, democracy fellow at The Century Foundation, is a nationally known expert on election reform and works on other issues related to civil rights and liberties. 2011-12-07T19:43:29Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Tova Andrea Wang, democracy fellow at The Century Foundation, is a nationally known expert on election reform and works on other issues related to civil rights and liberties.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/about/fellows/tova-andrea-wang/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Tova Andrea Wang, The Century Foundation's Democracy Fellow, is a nationally known expert on election reform and political participation. Her work focuses on primarily on voting rights, but she also has done significant research and writing on civil rights and liberties, immigration, campaign finance reform and media reform. She also is a Senior Democracy Fellow at Demos and former vice president for research at Common Cause.</p> <p>She was the Executive Director of The Century Foundation's Post-2004 Election Reform Working Group, comprised of many of the most preeminent election law scholars in the country. In 2001, she was staff person to the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former Presidents Carter and Ford, of which The Century Foundation was a co-sponsor. She is the author of several election reform reports, and wrote the widely remarked upon report on voter fraud and voter intimidation for the US Election Assistance Commission. Her commentary on election reform has appeared in the <i>New York Times, </i><i>Washington</i><i> Post, National Journal</i>, national <i>Associated Press</i> reports, <i>The Nation, </i><i>Los Angeles</i><i> Times, </i><i>Newsday</i><i>, </i><i>New York</i><i> Daily News, </i><i>St. Louis</i><i> Post Dispatch, </i><i>Minneapolis</i><i> Star Tribune, The American Prospect,</i> and <i>Campaigns and Elections</i>, among other media outlets. She has frequently appeared on national radio and television, including C-SPAN’s <i>Washington Journal, </i>MSNBC, NBC, and NPR. She has spoken at number of national election reform conferences and forums, provided her expertise to members of Congress, and given expert testimony regarding the new federal election reform law before the New York State Assembly, the New York State Senate, the New York State Board of Elections and the New York City Council. She was also the vice president of research at Common Cause. <span class="st"><i></i></span></p> <p>Among the civil liberties issues Ms. Wang does research, writing, and public commentary on are privacy rights, freedom of information, immigrant's rights, and freedom of expression.</p> <p>Prior to joining The Century Foundation, Ms. Wang was the Deputy Director of Public Policy at The Kamber Group, a public relations and political consulting firm. At Kamber, Ms. Wang consulted for political candidates, advocacy organizations, nonprofits and labor unions. During that time, she was also Deputy Director of an investigation into misconduct and disciplinary practices at the New York City Police Department for the Office of the Public Advocate.</p> <p>Before joining Kamber, Ms. Wang worked as an independent political consultant and campaign staff member for a number of national and statewide political and advocacy campaigns. She worked for Reverend Jesse Jackson in his 1996 get out the vote effort, and in 1992 was Manhattan Field Director for the Clinton for President campaign.</p> <p>Ms. Wang is an attorney and 1996 graduate of New York University School of Law, and a magna cum laude graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University.</p></div> </body> </html> Welcome to the Blog of the Century urn:syndication:05a24d2b-d88d-11e0-a67a-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330154352f6ed3970c Welcome to a new school year, a new blog name, and welcome to The Century Foundation. 2011-11-15T14:30:03Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Welcome to a new school year, a new blog name, and welcome to The Century Foundation.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/blog-of-the-century/6a00e54ffb969888330154352f6ed3970c/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><div>Welcome to a new school year, a new blog name, and welcome to The Century Foundation.<br /> If you’re new here, that makes two of us. I started work just last week as the sixth president of the 92-year-old Century Foundation. I succeed Richard Leone, who served this institution long and well, and who has become a senior fellow.</div> <div><br /> Who are we? We’re a progressive think tank, founded in 1919 and funded by a man named Edward Filene. (You may associate his name with his store’s Basement, which was actually founded as a way to make goods affordable by working people.) At his death in 1937, he was a close associate of President Franklin Roosevelt, and one of the leading liberal businessmen in the country. Along the way, he was a leading champion of fair workplaces and employee ownership strategies, all with an eye to ensuring that economic opportunity was available to all. He thought big and he acted big, beginning by using his business as a laboratory for his ideas and, later, influencing national policy and the New Deal. <br /> Founded in 1919, we were called the Twentieth Century Fund until the end of the last century, and you may have heard of us under that name, or may remember us for work we published by such leading scholars as Gunnar Myrdal, or for our association with progressive thought leaders such as Theodore Sorensen, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., John Kenneth Galbraith, Justice Robert Jackson, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and many more. (A list of past Century trustees can be found<a href="about/former-board-of-trustees"> here</a>, and it is pretty impressive, I think you’ll agree.) And like Filene, who was a lifelong Republican, we embrace a progressive ideology, but are not partisan.</div> <div><br /> We’re not the best-known think tank these days, or the biggest (although we do have, I believe, the second largest endowment of all progressive think tanks). But we aim to turn out important work that can shape public policy debates in this country and around the world. <br /> We provide analyses and convene the best thinkers on questions such as how to make the<a href="economics"> U.S. economy</a> both a stronger safety net and a trampoline for working Americans, understanding what kinds of classrooms<a href="education"> really work for kids</a>, and how the United States can lead in a world of<a href="international"> more diffuse power</a>. Many of these projects, seeded by our endowment, “look around corners” at emerging issues, but we also work to make sense of what is happening today—through this blog, for example, or through one of my favorites, our<a href="special-projects/series/graph-of-the-day/"> graph of the day</a>.<br /> All of that said, and while many things will stay the same here at Century (notably our values), many others are about to change, and I’m glad you’re interested enough to have read this far.<br /> Most obviously (and probably least significantly), we’ve changed the name of our blog. (Our previous blog, which contained lots of memorable material, but under the unmemorable name Taking Note, can be found<a href="http://takingnote.tcf.org/"> here</a>.) A lot of our work is long form—there was a time when we mostly published books on public policy. But these days much of what needs to be said can be said more quickly, and in shorter form. This blog is the place for that, and much more. In re-naming it Blog of the Century, we hope we’ve made it an easier destination to recall, and also a sign that we take the fate of the nation very seriously, but ourselves somewhat less so.<br /> Of course, this Blog of the Century is only one way to follow our work. In addition to our papers, conferences, seminars, and books, there is also our Facebook page (you can become a fan by clicking<a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheCenturyFoundation"> here</a>) and our Twitter feed (follow us<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/tcfdotorg"> here</a>). I’d especially invite you to join our e-mail list, which will enable us to send you links to our most interesting work every week or so, perhaps more often as we go along (click<a href="https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/acctId:1407853/signupId:1417824"> here</a> to sign up).<br /> A final word about, ahem, money. I mentioned that endowment. A couple of times. It enables us to take intellectual risks, and to provide a backstop to our work. Major foundation funders and others also underwrite additional work, and we hope to persuade them to do more of that. Beyond this, however, more money simply enables us to do more. So, also starting today, we’ll be asking on our website, and elsewhere, for money from you. It’s tax deductible, and will really make a difference. If you like what you see, I hope you’ll give what you can, <a href="https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=985" target="_self" title="Donate Now">by going here</a> and either using your credit card or following the instructions and sending a check.<br /> In any event, thanks for starting the school year with us, and welcome to the Blog of the Century.</div></div> </body> </html> Rookie Mistakes urn:syndication:f8192c28-dcae-11df-ada5-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/taking-note/6a00e54ffb9698883301348858858c970c College admission in the United States depends heavily on standardized testing and thorough examination of high school records. In addition, college... 2011-10-18T20:36:35Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>College admission in the United States depends heavily on standardized testing and thorough examination of high school records. In addition, college...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/taking-note/6a00e54ffb9698883301348858858c970c/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>College admission in the United States depends heavily on standardized testing and thorough examination of high school records. In addition, college applicants are typically required to write an essay (without the assistance of a ghost writer/editor), and possibly even undergo an in-person interview. Most important jobs require some sort of apprenticeship or previous experience, as well as academic credentials and objective recommendations. Even an artist normally runs the gamut of critical reviews before achieving any prominence. For that matter, contestants on some reality shows face tough scrutiny from panels that judge their performance, presumably against the accepted norms of their field.</p> <p>Only in our politics do we accept as normal candidates with no prior public sector experience and limited understanding of issues or the basics about governmental structures. Telegenic and/or wealthy candidates are welcome almost no matter how limited their understanding of basic public issues may be. One need not be familiar with the Constitution, apparently, to make our laws.</p> <p>This situation is particularly odd because the range of issues to be dealt with by high-level elected officials is so much wider and more complex than the sort of challenges faced in college or most workplaces. The public sphere, after all, is where we sort out questions of life and death, both at home and abroad. Our national economic policies and regulatory institutions loom large in shaping our economic destiny. Education, immigration, abortion, drug testing, and criminal justice are just a sampling of the many questions that come before the Congress. Indeed, a list of the most important matters are, in whole or in large part, sorted out in the public sphere.</p> <p>It’s logical, then, that we would seek candidates with broad knowledge, proven integrity, relevant experience, and high intelligence to fill the highest elected offices in the land. Logical, but alas, not mandatory.</p> <p>From time to time in our political history, our faith in the ultimate virtues of our system of selecting and electing members of Congress is tested. This is such a year. A year, frankly, when we have to hope that whatever deity watches the United States gives us better outcomes than, based on our behavior so far, we deserve.</p></div> </body> </html> #2012 Election: Creative Disruption Highlights urn:syndication:7dccf6f3-c385-11e0-b206-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2011/2012-election-creative-disruption-highlights Highlights from this 2011 Summer Intern Luncheon on the creative disruption that social media can and will cause in the political process. 2011-08-10T19:16:37Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Highlights from this 2011 Summer Intern Luncheon on the creative disruption that social media can and will cause in the political process.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2011/2012-election-creative-disruption-highlights/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>Highlights from this 2011 Summer Intern Luncheon on the creative disruption that Social Media can and will cause in the political process.</p></div> </body> </html> #2012 Election: Youtube Twitter Facebook Highlights urn:syndication:7ddb94f0-c385-11e0-a045-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2011/2012-election-youtube-twitter-facebook-highlights Highlights from this 2011 Summer Intern Luncheon on how Youtube, Twitter, & Facebook can, have, and will impact in the political process. 2011-08-10T14:55:50Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Highlights from this 2011 Summer Intern Luncheon on how Youtube, Twitter, & Facebook can, have, and will impact in the political process.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2011/2012-election-youtube-twitter-facebook-highlights/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>Highlights from this <a class="internal-link" href="../../events/2011/2012-election-social-media-the-future-of-politics">2011 Summer Intern Luncheon</a> on how Youtube, Twitter, & Facebook can, have, and will impact in the political process.</p></div> </body> </html> Graph of the Day: Can Higher Education Solve the Jobs Crisis? urn:syndication:5b08f7d9-bed3-11e0-a5ad-002219154821 http://tcf.org/blogs/taking-note/6a00e54ffb969888330153906da571970b With the fragile U.S. economy struggling to recover and millions of Americans still out of work, many pundits and policy makers have taken to... 2011-08-04T18:43:02Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p> With the fragile U.S. economy struggling to recover and millions of Americans still out of work, many pundits and policy makers have taken to...</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/blogs/taking-note/6a00e54ffb969888330153906da571970b/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>With the fragile U.S. economy struggling to recover and millions of Americans still out of work, many pundits and policy makers have taken to claiming that high unemployment is a structural, not cyclical problem. In other words, the issue is not that there is low consumer demand -- and therefore low demand for workers -- but rather that unemployed workers do not have the skills or education that employers require. Further, it is claimed that as the economy returns to full employment, businesses will be stymied by a significant lack of qualified college graduates.</p> <p>However, a <a href="http://www.epi.org/page/-/old/briefingpapers/BriefingPaper286 (2).pdf?nocdn=1" target="_blank">recent report</a> (PDF) by the Economic Policy Institute shows that there is little evidence to support the claim that higher education is the solution to the current jobs crisis, including rising wage and income inequality.</p> <p><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330153906d7026970b-popup"><img src="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330153906d7026970b-500wi" alt="Job seekers ratio" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54ffb969888330153906d7026970b" title="Job seekers ratio" /></a></p> <p>According to Lawrence Mishel, the author of the report, there have been far too few job openings for all of the unemployed looking for work, suggesting the underlyling economic problem remains cyclical low demand. As the above graph from the report shows, the ratio of unemployed workers per job opening remains nearly twice as high as at the peak of the 2001 recession. And the current jobs shortfall is not just in one or two affected industries, like construction, but across all sectors. Neither does one education group account for the increase in long term unemployment, as the structural argument would suggest.</p> <p>If high unemployment was truly a result of a wider skill-biased technological shift, then we should expect that the median wage of workers with a bachelors degree be improving relative to workers without any college experience, following the law of supply and demand. However, as the following graph from the EPI report illustrates, neither college graduates nor high school graduates saw increased median weekly wages during the last decade; in fact, wages actually declined slightly from 2000 to 2009.</p> <p><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330153906d7151970b-popup"><img src="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb969888330153906d7151970b-500wi" alt="Median weekly wages" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54ffb969888330153906d7151970b" title="Median weekly wages" /></a></p> <p>The immediate problem, Mishel concludes, is that workers face "a wage deficit, not a skills deficit," as a result of the slow economy, which could be temporarily helped by further stimulus through government spending. However, he warns that the larger problem of stagnant wages may be explained by the immense widening of the income gap since the late 1970s. While the wages of the bottom 90 percent have grown only 16 percent in the last three decades, wages grew twenty times faster for the top 0.1 percent -- up 324 percent since 1979.</p> <p><a href="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb9698883301543440cc51970c-popup"><img src="http://tcftakingnote.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ffb9698883301543440cc51970c-500wi" alt="Growth in annual earnings by wage group" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00e54ffb9698883301543440cc51970c" title="Growth in annual earnings by wage group" /></a></p> <p>As I explained in a <a href="http://takingnote.tcf.org/2011/07/graph-of-the-day-productivity-is-rising-so-where-are-the-profits.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, wages stopped tracking productivity in the mid 1970s. Around 1973, wages for the bottom 90 percent began to stagnate, while wages for the top 10 percent and productivity nearly doubled. Clearly, expanding higher education alone will not solve the current unemployment crisis, nor the more fundamental disparity between income levels and productivity in this country. To address those underlying issues will require progressive policies, political courage, and the grass-roots renewal of those American values that we seem, in recent years, to have forgotten: collective responsibility and civic duty.</p> <p> </p> <p><i>View more from the <a href="special-projects/series/graph-of-the-day/" target="_self">Graph of the Day Series. </a></i><br /> <br /></p></div> </body> </html> The Incredible Youth Vote urn:syndication:63fa3afd-b78d-11e0-90af-002219154821 http://tcf.org/events/2008/ev229 The 2008 primaries saw a dramatic increase in the number of young people turning out to vote, causing many to dub this year “The Year of the Youth Vote.” Will young voters continue to be concerned about issues raised by the coming election? Is this voting bloc strong enough to determine who will win the 2008 presidential election? 2011-07-26T13:29:31Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>The 2008 primaries saw a dramatic increase in the number of young people turning out to vote, causing many to dub this year “The Year of the Youth Vote.” Will young voters continue to be concerned about issues raised by the coming election? Is this voting bloc strong enough to determine who will win the 2008 presidential election?</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/events/2008/ev229/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div>More than 6.5 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in the 2008 presidential primaries. <em>Time Magazine</em> and other prominent publications dubbed 2008 "The Year of the Youth Vote." Political commentators and analysts have argued that the surge in the youth vote and its virtually unwavering support for Barack Obama was a key factor behind the Senator's ascent to prominence and  his ultimate victory in  securing his spot as the Democratic nominee for president. However, it remains unclear as to whether or not the youth voting bloc will be as powerful during the general election. <p> Despite the fact that the youth voter turnout rate jumped from 9% in the 2000 presidential primaries to 17% during the nominating contests this year, young people still do not vote nearly as often as older Americans. While many political campaigns, especially Democratic ones, have always hoped to see an increase in young voters on election day, polling data from past general elections suggests that younger Americans have been an unreliable voting bloc. During the 2004 presidential race, for instance, ballots cast by young voters only accounted for 1.53% of John Kerry's total votes.</p> <p>In other words, it remains unclear as to whether adding a presidential candidate as a friend on Facebook will translate into a vote during the general election.</p> <p>On July 22nd 2008, <a href="/elections">The Century Foundation (TCF)</a> hosted the second installment in its summer 2008 public policy lunch series for New York City interns with a forum, “<a href="/events/2008/ev229">The Incredible Youth Vote: Will the Youth Vote Have the Strength to Decide the 2008 Presidential Election?”</a> TCF gathered a panel of experts to lead an interactive discussion with nearly 100 young people from the NYC area on the potential political power of the youth vote, and the various legal and social factors that election year after election year keep this demographic of voters from actively engaging in the political process.</p> <p>Forum speakers included, Tova Wang, Vice President of Research for <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=186966">Common Cause</a> and Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation; Justin Rockefeller, Co-founder and National Program Director of <a href="http://www.generationengage.org/index.php">GenerationEngage</a>, Maya Enista, Chief Executive Officer of <a href="http://www.mobilize.org/">Mobilize.org</a>, Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director of the <a href="http://pewhispanic.org/">Pew Hispanic Center</a>; and Ben Adler, Staff Writer for <em><a href="http://www.politico.com/reporters/BenAdler.html">Politico</a>. </em></p> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues that may make it difficult for segments of the youth vote to easily participate in the electoral process. The ability of the political campaigns and voter mobilization groups to target both students and non-students alike in their GOTV efforts along with state election laws that have historically disenfranchised young voters account for  just a few of the factors they discussed, which could affect the impact young voters have on the local and national elections in November.</p> <p><span class="titles2"> Highlight Video </span></p> <p><span class="titles2">Discussion Video </span></p> <p><a href="http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/lnk/1c2quick2534/INTERN%20PP%20LUNCH%20SERIES/072208_YOUTH+VOTE+Full+Discussion.mov/play.qtl"><img src="/events/images/ev229/YOUTH_VOTE_DISCUSSION.jpg" alt="Youth Vote" /></a></p> <p><span class="titles2">Q&A Video </span></p> <p><a href="http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/lnk/1c2quick2534/INTERN PP LUNCH SERIES/072208_YOUTH+VOTE+Q&A.mov/play.qtl"><img src="/events/images/ev229/YOUTH_VOTE_QA.jpg" alt="Youth vote" /></a></p> </div> </body> </html> What's News Got To Do With It—Talk Radio, Infotainment and the 2004 Election urn:syndication:64055a75-b78d-11e0-81af-002219154821 http://tcf.org/events/2004/ev122 The Summer Policy Lunch Forum Series is a brown bag lunch forum for young people working and studying in New York to talk about politics and important public policy issues with experts and advocates. Please feel free to invite any interns or young staff members who might be interested in the event. 2011-07-26T13:29:31Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>The Summer Policy Lunch Forum Series is a brown bag lunch forum for young people working and studying in New York to talk about politics and important public policy issues with experts and advocates. Please feel free to invite any interns or young staff members who might be interested in the event. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/events/2004/ev122/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div> <p> <strong>Part of The Century Foundation's 4th Annual Summer Policy Lunch Forum Series.</strong></p> <p><strong>Featuring:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Ana Marie Cox</strong>, Editor, Wonkette.com</li> <li><strong>Sam Seder</strong>, Cohost, "The Majority Report" (Air America Radio)</li> <li><strong>Fahiym Ratcliff</strong>, culture/political editor, <em>The Source</em> magazine</li> <li><strong>Siva Vaidhyanathan</strong>, Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Communication, New York University</li></ul> <p>A growing number of young people are getting more of their information about political topics from the Internet, pop culture magazines such as Rolling Stone and The Source and “infotainment” programs such as the Daily Show, than they are from CNN or the nightly news. This forum will focus on the blurring of the lines between news and entertainment, and how this hybrid is being successfully used in blogs, mock newscasts, and talk radio to convey political information. The goal of the session is to highlight and discuss the significance of these “infotainment” sources in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election: how are infotainment sources covering the candidates and the issues, and how might that coverage influence potential voters?<br /> <br /> The Summer Policy Lunch Forum Series is a brown bag lunch forum for young people working and studying in New York to talk about politics and important public policy issues with experts and advocates. Please feel free to invite any interns or young staff members who might be interested in the event.</p> </div> </body> </html> THE INCREDIBLE YOUTH VOTE: Q&A Video urn:syndication:311475cc-d8b9-11df-be21-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2008/incredible-youth-vote-q-a The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process. 2011-07-26T13:29:29Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2008/incredible-youth-vote-q-a/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process.</p> </div> </body> </html> THE INCREDIBLE YOUTH VOTE: Discussion Video urn:syndication:31178a59-d8b9-11df-97a4-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2008/incredible-youth-vote-discussion The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process. 2011-07-26T13:29:29Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2008/incredible-youth-vote-discussion/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process.</p> </div> </body> </html> The Upward Trend in Youth Voting urn:syndication:64141597-b78d-11e0-a62c-002219154821 http://tcf.org/commentary/2008/nc1871 While young voters have been treated as the news phenomenon of the 2008 elections, the reality is that they have been participating in elections at higher rates since 2000. This upward trend in youth participation runs contrary to the media’s assertion that the engagement has been driven by the Obama campaign; Ben Adler pointed this out in an article in Politico a couple weeks ago. 2011-07-26T13:29:27Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>While young voters have been treated as the news phenomenon of the 2008 elections, the reality is that they have been participating in elections at higher rates since 2000. This upward trend in youth participation runs contrary to the media’s assertion that the engagement has been driven by the Obama campaign; Ben Adler pointed this out in an article in Politico a couple weeks ago. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/commentary/2008/nc1871/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div>While young voters have been treated as the news phenomenon of the 2008 elections, the reality is that they have been participating in elections at higher rates since 2000. This upward trend in youth participation runs contrary to the media’s assertion that the engagement has been driven by the Obama campaign; Ben Adler pointed this out in an <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9365.html">article</a> in Politico a couple weeks ago. <a href="http://takingnote.tcf.org/2008/04/young-voters.html">Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog. </a></div> </body> </html> Youth Vote 2008 urn:syndication:8320774f-3b9f-11e0-b80f-002219154821 http://tcf.org/publications/2007/9/pb624 Election 2008 has the potential to be momentous for the youth vote. Young voters have turned out in consistently higher numbers for the past two election cycles, and speculation says that this trend will continue with a possible push even higher. In this new issue brief, Kristen Oshyn and Tova Andrea Wang look at studies and reports that describe a young generation that is increasingly engaged in the electoral process and one that is planning on sticking around. View the PDF document here. 2011-07-26T13:29:27Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>Election 2008 has the potential to be momentous for the youth vote. Young voters have turned out in consistently higher numbers for the past two election cycles, and speculation says that this trend will continue with a possible push even higher. In this new issue brief, Kristen Oshyn and Tova Andrea Wang look at studies and reports that describe a young generation that is increasingly engaged in the electoral process and one that is planning on sticking around. View the PDF document here. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/publications/2007/9/pb624/image" /> <span>Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldcross/">Denise Cross</a></span> </div> <div><p>Election 2008 has the potential to be momentous for the youth vote. Young voters have turned out in consistently higher numbers for the past two election cycles, and speculation says that this trend will continue with a possible push even higher. In this new issue brief, Kristen Oshyn and Tova Andrea Wang look at studies and reports that describe a young generation that is increasingly engaged in the electoral process and one that is planning on sticking around. <a href="../../pdfs/pb624/youthvote.pdf">View the PDF document here. </a></p></div> </body> </html> Engaging Youth: Combating the Apathy of Young Americans toward Politics urn:syndication:8321a7b8-3b9f-11e0-a75a-002219154821 http://tcf.org/publications/2003/4/pb153 This report explores the political dimensions that characterize Generation X and attributes their anti-government and right-leaning tendencies to the extensive infrastructure of conservative institutions and inactivity on the part of progressive institutions. 2011-07-26T13:29:26Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>This report explores the political dimensions that characterize Generation X and attributes their anti-government and right-leaning tendencies to the extensive infrastructure of conservative institutions and inactivity on the part of progressive institutions.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/publications/2003/4/pb153/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>Ohio University Professor Kevin Mattson explores the political dimensions that characterize Generation X and attributes their anti-government and right-leaning tendencies to the extensive infrastructure of conservative institutions and inactivity on the part of progressive institutions. In the face of the civic apathy of so many young people, the passivity of both progressive political leaders and the country in general does nothing to remedy this unfortunate situation. Still, Mattson is optimistic that with a revitalization of progressive institutions and politics, political engagement will increase.</p></div> </body> </html> THE INCREDIBLE YOUTH VOTE: Highlights Video urn:syndication:3112c273-d8b9-11df-97d4-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2008/the-incredible-youth-vote-highlights The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process. 2011-07-26T13:29:26Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process. </p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2008/the-incredible-youth-vote-highlights/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div> <p>The panel addressed a host of issues in the 2008 election that may have made it difficult for segments of the youth vote to participate in the electoral process.</p> </div> </body> </html> Money, Politics and the Constitution: A Public Conversation: Discussion urn:syndication:eec94d8c-a0f9-11e0-8990-002219154821 http://tcf.org/videos/2011/money-politics-and-the-constitution-a-public-conversation-discussion In this event video, recorded less than a week before The Supreme Court ruled on McComish v. Bennett, we examined what could be next for the First Amendment, how to advance a new jurisprudence that combats the rise of unfettered money in politics, and how to advance a vision of the Constitution as a charter for a vibrant, participatory democracy. 2011-07-18T14:34:29Z <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <body> <p>In this event video, recorded less than a week before The Supreme Court ruled on McComish v. Bennett, we examined what could be next for the First Amendment, how to advance a new jurisprudence that combats the rise of unfettered money in politics, and how to advance a vision of the Constitution as a charter for a vibrant, participatory democracy.</p> <div style="float: right"> <img src="http://tcf.org/videos/2011/money-politics-and-the-constitution-a-public-conversation-discussion/image" /> <span></span> </div> <div><p>In this event video, recorded less than a week before The Supreme Court ruled on McComish v. Bennett, we examined what could be next for the First Amendment, how to advance a new jurisprudence that combats the rise of unfettered money in politics, and how to advance a vision of the Constitution as a charter for a vibrant, participatory democracy.</p></div> </body> </html>