Somewhere along the line, I realized that punk rock was more than hairdos and sneers. A friend of mine said she likes "let the good times roll" music, but some central themes of punk music are political and justice messages. This is true of other genres; there is hip-hop that talks about being stylish and successful and there is some that is meant to enlighten people as
well. All of us kids - ravers, rockers, hippies, hip-hoppers - should all come together, and the punks are getting it started. People say punk is dead, but
really it was the cartoonish stereotype that has died, and I say good riddance to any idea of ignorant self-destructiveness. What is left is the love for
freedom, the working class values, the idea that people need to work together rather than separately to survive, to be strong, to be tough and to have beliefs.

There will still be antics. There are still people who bash their heads while being drunken human bowling balls, sure. There is the smelliness that may offend delicate nostrils. There are record stores that will always do good business thanks to people who have to have records instead of mp3s. But when it comes down to it, many youths who dare to question their fates and their governments most likely have some of their inspiration from the words and emotions of punk rock. Punk has been able to unite people of different races,
class backgrounds, ages, and genders and sexual orientations. I think this is why it has been going strong for the last 30+ years. If anything, the spirit
of punk rock is more alive than ever and is giving people the strength, in these massively corrupt times, to fight for their beliefs, knowing they are part of a movement.

Punkvoter.com is one part of this movement, that people are realizing they do have power; their labor, their time, their dollars, their likes and dislikes,
are tremendously important in shaping this world of ours. Some people are getting the idea that voting doesn't change anything, that one vote is too small to do any good, that the game itself may be rigged. But on the other hand, grass roots activists have seen their causes pushed into laws through canvassing for funds, voter outreach, letter writing, and lobbying.

They will tell you that those in power want you to feel complacent so their ideas will remain unchallenged. There are some people who have the idea that voting is too subtle an action for the current situations, and that we need a revolution.

Revolutions are not always the least-violent ways to do things, and the results may not last, and isn't that why we turned to music in the first place?
Punkvoter.com wants people 18-25 to mobilize to the voting booths, to listen to the words of the people who have come back from the war, to realize that we
live in a nation of hypocrisy (they use the wordDe-mock-racy), and to pay attention to what the president does as opposed to his media stunts. The Internet itself is a great tool for educating yourself outside of the mainstream media, and this website is a good place to start. One thing that is really special about it is that it has words from members of some of the most notorious bands including Anti-Flag, Pennywise, Bad Religion and of course Jello Biafra from Dead Kennedys. Fans of these bands might want to check the site out for this reason alone. I personally like the comics too.

So the site doesn't claim that the voting process isn't without its flaws, or is tamper free, but at least people can have a place to start. Eventually we
will be taking over. This is our generation on the battlefield and these are our brothers, sisters and classmates. Do we want to see them sitting in
wheelchairs or asking for change on the street, like those who survived Viet Nam? It is our responsibility to do something, and each one of us matters.