Op/Ed: Frail And Bedazzled

Lo, tis barely US election season and already the finite public consciousness is being crammed full of irrelevant, non-event news items. Wackos shoot people and perverts prey on the vulnerable everyday, yet when this most important time comes for the World's most powerful nation it's politics gets pushed way, way to the back of the mainstream news casts and newspaper pages.


Why is it that the majority of citizens regard politics as dry and boring? Why do most people eschew discussing politics openly in public? Why don't people feel comfortable telling others who they voted for?

I don't think any one would class politics as unimportant or irrelevant, so why is it treated with such apathy? To excuse the apathy by claiming ordinary citizens cannot change their governments' actions and policies is incorrect. It is actually due to this apathy that governments even consider carrying out actions and policies that they know are domestically unpopular.

So you've decided to shake the apathy and get politically motivated and informed? So you switch on the news and are bombarded 24/7 by the latest school shooting, or a hijacked plane in Turkey. The only political story you're given is a lurid scandal involving the sexual habits of a congressman and teenage boys. How sensational, but utterly trivial when compared to the major political issues that are being treat like the proverbial elephant in the room.

So what to do about it? Resign yourself to the democratic platitudes that so effortlessly roll off politicians' tongues? Convince yourself that you actually are well informed and that when you vote you've enforced your will on your government?

This is a big problem people. It does not just concern the United States either. It's not a new problem and I cannot see any way of fixing it. We need to fix this problem. It's the publics duty to fix this.

Discuss.

Subz. Agree completely with you. I get tired of listening to the latest crisis of the day as though the fate of the entire western world hangs in the balance, no not the western world, the WHOLE world.

School shootings are tragic...airliner hijackings can be world altering (WTC...), but our election process is/will be world shaping. Where is the coverage? I realize that dog bites man is boring, and man bites dog sells advertizing. You would think that national news would be covering it a bit more than it does. Afterall, the House and Senate are up for grabs this fall, that's important stuff. Should be covered.

I guess we, as individuals, have to decide whether to focus our attention on the ailment or the symptoms. Obviously it would be better to address the ailment which is voter apathy, but how do you change the habits of entire countries? That would leave us with combating the symptoms, a less than ideal scenario.

To me, the symptoms are:

• Partisanism
  
• Media Ownership Consolidation
  
• Corporate Communism
  
• Federal encroachment
  
• Lack of civic duty
  
• Poor economic management
  
• Lack of a viable third political party
  

I believe the above symptoms that result from abject voter apathy are fixable by a fraction of the population. Rather than trying to fix voter apathy itself which would require almost total involvement from the general populace.

If I were to prioritize the symptoms in order to correct them all I would tackle the lack of a viable third political party first. With the advent of an uncontrolled (unrestrained) party with only the good of the nation at it's core, rather than the good of the corporate world, we could begin to tackle the rest on the list.

It's pie-in-the-sky at the moment but I see the probability of change increasing with every subsequent encroachment of our civil liberties and gross incompetence and outrages of power that occur. This system we have is sowing it's own seeds of destruction every time they take liberties (figuratively and literally).

Thank you for saying this, subz. I truly appreciate your sentiments in this matter because I agree with you. I am amazed that people are not more involved in the machinations of their government. And around voting time, it seems as if people vote with their feet instead of their brains.

I have been saying this on my blog for the longest time. I keep on writing on the behalf that others would at least get more interested in what is going on in the present Administration and to keep abreast of the issues that have come to the forefront.

Because of the lackidasial attitude that is being adopted by some members of the American populace, the Congress has been able to pass bills that are not in thier best interest. And this is related to matters of civil liberties.

It seems easier to be coddled by the speeches the President makes every so often than to ask questions and work proactively to stop the narcolespy that is happening when it comes to the most important issues of the day.

I hope that this isn't the case, because we are in desperate trouble. Truly we are.

I agree with both your sentiments. The only way to create a viable third party option is to get out there and physically create it. Organize, organize, and organize some more.

It's not an easy thing to do, but I agree that it is a neccessary thing to do. The two major parties have become far too trapped within their petty little incestuous battles to care about the workaday American. This recent todo over ex-Rep Foley for example: Instead of worrying about the perception of Congress as a whole, its been turned into a partisen mudslinging fest. Democrats have been caught doing the same damned thing John Studds did the nasty with a page on a trip to Portugal or Spain a few years back, yet was reelected a number of times. Neither party has a lock on holier than thou politics. This merely illustrates the screaming need for a third party option.

Is it any wonder that people stay away from the polls come election time? Why bother when its just going to be more of the same...year in, year out...decade in, decade out...

[edit on 5-10-2006 by seagull]