by Jack
In 2010 the US vote turnout of people aged 18 to 24 was just 21%, but across the pond twice that number voted in the UK. Why? Our younger generation sees themselves as more enlightened, liberal and hopeful, but they don’t like the native aspects of political campaigns. It’s a buzz kill to see your candidate dragged through the mud or see two opposing candidates trash each other. They also don’t like seeing big money and big organizations, controlling elections and legislation. This leads to voter frustration, then cynicism, and finally just dropping out.
The typical reaction is, “Screw that, my vote doesn’t count anyway” or “You can’t trust any of them anyway, what’s the point?” So, they turn their back on politics, content to replace that part with something more meaningful in their personal life. That’s a shame and it means that somewhere along the way in their education we forgot to tell them that politics is not an elective, its an obligation. Because a well informed voter is as necessary to the preservation of the United States as is our military. Seriously, it really is. And conversely, being an ignorant and/or reckless voter is a worse threat to democracy than any external threat. Look at the damage done in California by stupid voting and look at the damage done by electing a stupid president. We’ve got to do better.
The key to getting voters to be informed and doing their duty is education and that starts in the home. Parents, are you paying attention here? That’s a good first step, but we need to follow through in K-12 education with an emphasis on student government. We can’t keep doing what we’re doing and hope that politics will somehow fix itself.