[Mpls] Apathy Wins

[Chris Johnson]

Laura and lloyd wrote:

> I think voters do not vote because they do not have sufficient 
> motivation to do so. I would not call that apathy. I would not give it 
> any sort of label. 


> I've spoken to perhaps hundreds of people who got sort of vague when I 
> asked them if they planned on voting this year. I did my best to give 
> great reasons for voting and I'm sure I succeeded with some. But with 
> some, I could still see a hesitancy after we talked. It is not a lack of 
> concern about who gets elected. It isn't fear, either.
> 
> I'd guess that for some they live in a world of too many choices to 
> make. Time for them is a shrinking commodity. For some reason that we do 
> not know, voting drops down the priority list in their crowded lives. I 
> think the challenge is to raise that civic duty on the priority list, 
> but do so without blaming. The more we blame, the more some of these 
> will retreat into their independence to exercise an option.

Laura's first sentence is on the mark:  insufficient motivation to do so.  I 
agree with her reasons beyond that, but I disagree that they are the only ones 
(if that's what she intended to imply -- I'm not sure) and that apathy is not 
among them.

For some voters, I think it truly is apathy.  In some cases it is apathy born 
of disconnect -- they see no obvious connection between their vote and 
results.  In other cases, they are comfortable and none of the choices seem to 
upset the apple cart much, so apathy is again born.

For other voters, it is a sort of despondency.  Why bother voting when the 
corrupt powers that be will always gain the upper hand?  The deck is stacked, 
negative campaigns sway more voters who do vote than honest issues, and once 
elected, corruption, self serving and inside dealing control most government 
decisions.  Why waste time in futile efforts to vote for allegedly good people?

For some voters, it is simple futility, pure and simple.  They know the 
elections are bogus, so why bother?  They know the few educated voters choices 
will be far outnumbered by the majority -- those who have non-public special 
interests or those who have been deceived by the former group.

For others, I agree again, there are too many choices, not enough time and too 
little information.  The media gives us regurgitated spin and scattered 
factoids, instead of fulfilling their real responsibilities as the 4th estate.

Election day should be a national holiday.  Election day should be around the 
same day as tax day, not nearly as far away from it as possible.  Media which 
get control over public facilities (e.g. broadcast TV and radio) should be 
required to provide more than adequate coverage as part of their licenses.

But I don't think even those suggested changes would fix low voter turnout. 
The system is corrupt and broken.  Until society fixes that, voters will 
remain uninterested in going through the motions of pretending that the 
government is of the people, by the people and for the people.

Feeling cynical after a terribly low turnout and especially distorted election,
--
Chris Johnson
Fulton