It Isn’t Only the Young Who Don’t Vote

On “Rocking the Boat: MTV, Rock the Vote Urge Teens to Get Politically Involved” (June 1): A question the article raised but did not directly address is, why don’t we 18- to 24-year-olds vote in greater numbers?

My generation--who came of age in the Reagan-Bush era--is often accused of indifference, self-absorption and having interest only in immediate gratification. My question is: How did we turn out this way?

What tends to get overlooked in these discussions of the MTV generation is the fact that we are our parents’ children. If young people are, in fact, “more apathetic, more cynical and more alienated than anyone else,” we all need to begin asking the hard question, “Why?”

It’s my feeling that Rock the Vote is not going to increase the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who vote, not until the proportion of the general population that votes increases.

DENNIS VILLACORTE

Pomona