Friday, November 12, 2010
Politcal Apathy
I had a chance to read an editorial titled "Completely Lost". The editorial raised an interesting point about political apathy amount Americans, especially when it comes to regional politics. It is well known that voter turnout in the US is one of the lowest in the entire world. It is sad yet true that many Americans feel the same way that Kylah, author of Completely Lost, feels. She feels as if none of the parties truly represents her and that "politicians should not be trusted". I appreciate her honesty and straightforwardness, however, I believe that in her post she should have suggested solutions to the problem. The excuse that someone is too "busy" to follow politics is a tired and cliched one. In this modern day and age, news is easy accessible and taking 5 minutes daily to inform yourself of current issues is easily doable by checking the internet, watching the news, etc. Maybe if Americans spent a little more time trying to educate themselves about politics than watch reruns of American Idol, we would live in a better and more educated society.
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I agree with "The Texas Talk". Voter turnout is abysmal in the United States, and worse yet, voter IQ is almost nonexistent. Our populace lacks basic knowledge about a majority of political issues prevalent today. This leads to two outcomes, both of which hurt our society. The first is that uninformed voters stay at home on election days, refusing to vote due to their lack of knowledge of the issues and candidates. Of course, as my colleague says, it would only take five or ten minutes a day to become more educated about political issues than most people. The other, possibly worse, outcome occurs when uninformed voters actually vote. While it is encouraging to see people vote, uninformed citizens often vote either randomly or based off of irrelevant factors such as name recognition. We need to encourage our peers to not only get out and vote, but also to become informed about the issues and candidates that affect our lives. I think "The Texas Talk" and I are in agreement on that point.
ReplyDeletePlease visit "The Texas Talk" for reference.