Purpose
The DOI Road Trip's stated mission was to engage and energize all Americans, particularly young people, by bringing the Declaration to them. [1] According to a press release, "This non-profit nonpartisan project hopes to inspire Americans to participate in civic activism, to exercise their rights and to vote. The Declaration of Independence Road Trip will travel to cities and towns across the United States, creatively combining elements of education, entertainment, and community outreach."
Founded by TV producer and philanthropist Norman Lear, and led by Honorary Co-Chairs and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, [2] "Declare Yourself" is described in their literature as a "national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign [3] initiated in 2004 to energize and empower a new movement of young voters to participate in the 2004 presidential election." [4] From January through Election Day 2004, over one million young and first-time voters registered to vote through events at Declare Yourself's spoken word and music tour of college campuses. [5]
Commercials
In 2006, three public service announcements (PSAs) were released, each directed by David LaChapelle. They pretend to be clichéd commercials for different products but all end with the same ending: Silence. After the image, there's an eerie silence as the words "Only You Can Silence Yourself" appear, followed by a voice whispering "Register to vote now." [6]
Dog Food
An innocent-looking dog food ad where woman comments how her dog has not a care in the world and chooses the brand "Apathy" and hopes that she will be like the dog and be taken care of herself. Suddenly we cut to an image of her on all fours with a muzzle on. Watch Dog Food PSA on YouTube
Phat Ride
A typical ad in the style of Pimp My Ride, when it ends as a mechanic has nailed his mouth shut. Watch Phat Ride PSA on YouTube
Vanity
A commercial which advertises a lipstick called "Lip-Sealer" with the cliché of a model posing with a voice over. Suddenly, the model's lips have been glued shut as she tries to speak but is only able to mumble. Distorted voices are also heard. Watch Vanity PSA on YouTube
The Man
In 2007 Declare Yourself shot another series of PSAs starring Ben Garant and Tom Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911!. The series, entitled The Man, featured Ben and Tom posing as "The Man" to encourage young people NOT to vote. The sarcastic series has a following on MySpace TV, YouTube, and Break.
The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in both the engrossed version and the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who convened at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial era capital of Philadelphia.
Norman Milton Lear was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including All in the Family (1971–1979), Maude (1972–1978), Sanford and Son (1972–1977), One Day at a Time (1975–1984), The Jeffersons (1975–1985), and Good Times (1974–1979). His shows introduced political and social themes to the sitcom format.
Scottish independence is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about.
A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are designed to startle or even scare the viewer into understanding the consequences of undergoing a particular harmful action or inaction as well as the importance of avoiding such choices. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, they are known as an announcement in the public interest (API).
Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 20 March 2004. A consultative referendum took place on the same day regarding relations with the People's Republic of China.
Peter Wishart is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician and musician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth and Kinross-shire since 2024. He previously served as the MP for Perth and North Perthshire from 2005 to 2024 and North Tayside from 2001 to 2005.
LaToya Renee London is an American R&B and soul singer and stage actress who was fourth-place finalist on the third season of American Idol. Her debut album, Love & Life, was released in September 2005 and spawned a number of moderate R&B chart hits. She has concentrated on stage work, including originating and performing the role of Nettie in the national tour of the Broadway musical The Color Purple from 2007 to 2010, for which she won an Ovation Award. She was the lead in the U.S. regional debut of The Bodyguard, a musical based on the 1992 film.
Alyssa Jayne Milano is an American actress, producer, activist, and former singer. She has played Samantha Micelli in Who's the Boss?, Jennifer Mancini in Melrose Place, Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed, Billie Cunningham in My Name Is Earl, Savannah "Savi" Davis in Mistresses, Renata Murphy in Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, and Coralee Armstrong in Insatiable. As an activist, Milano is known for her role in the MeToo movement in October 2017.
Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the most powerful actions they can take: voting."
The youth vote in the United States is the cohort of 18–24 year-olds as a voting demographic, though some scholars define youth voting as voters under 30. Many policy areas specifically affect the youth of the United States, such as education issues and the juvenile justice system; however, young people also care about issues that affect the population as a whole, such as national debt and war.
In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans. Dog whistles use language that appears normal to the majority but communicates specific things to intended audiences. They are generally used to convey messages on issues likely to provoke controversy without attracting negative attention.
A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991. An overwhelming majority of 92% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991.
The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and by the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.
Scottish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that Scotland should be a republic; the nation is currently a monarchy as part of the United Kingdom. Republicanism is associated with Scottish nationalism and the Scottish independence movement, but also with British republicanism and the movement for federalism in the United Kingdom.
18 in ’08 is a non-profit, nonpartisan peer to peer youth voter engagement and mobilization organization. It was co-founded in 2007 by David D. Burstein, who is the current executive director, and his parents. 18 in ‘08 is the first national youth voter organization to be run by someone under 21.
No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a campaign by a number of poor people's movements in South Africa that calls for the boycotting of the vote and a general rejection of party politics and vote banking. The name is meant to imply that if government does not deliver on issues important to affected communities these movements will not vote.
Our Time is an American organization founded by Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, focused on organizing campaigns that register and educate voters, advocating for economic opportunity, and covering political news aimed at young Americans.
Voto Latino is a dual 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States, founded in 2004. The organization's primary aim is to encourage young Hispanic and Latino voters to register to vote and become more politically involved. The organization was co-founded by Rosario Dawson and Phil Colón. The current president and CEO is María Teresa Kumar.
This page lists the public opinion polls that were conducted in relation to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, that was held on 18 September 2014. Overall, polls showed that support for a "No" vote was dominant until the end of August 2014, when support for a "Yes" vote gained momentum and the gap closed significantly, with at least one poll placing the "Yes" vote ahead. In the final week of the campaign, polls showed the "No" vote to be consistently but somewhat narrowly ahead. There were no exit polls although a YouGov post-election poll was published shortly after the polls closed. For the history of the campaign itself see 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Yes Scotland, and Better Together (campaign).
A sovereignty referendum was held in the Ukrainian SSR on 17 March 1991 as part of a USSR-wide referendum. Voters were asked two questions on reforming the Soviet Union into a confederation of sovereign states. Most voters supported the proposal, although in the pro-independence oblasts of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Ternopil, voters opted for independence as part of an additional question.
