With unemployment, war, superstar celebrity governers, and a
mayorial race where the canidates were worth discussing (a first for me), politics have been heavy around my way. Most of these conversations eventually lead to the fact that a majority of people don't vote. This is often regulated to a voter segment. "If we can give the people who don't vote a reason too, we can beat xxxx." That may be true... but it rarely works. Even when it does, it doesn't stick. Life long voters are becoming a very rare bread.
Talking with
Goldman about it on our commute today went something like:
- Voter's are apathetic
- This isn't the same as lazy
- Registration to vote doesn't mean much (see Rock the Vote)
- Apathy is the result of a deeper fundamental problem
- Politics have a perception of removal from everyday life
- In many cases, this is not just perception, but true
- History of world politics show constant contradictions (see US Foreign Policy)
- Government stumbles along
- Same can be said of large companies
- Too many people involved without the proper information/perspective
- It only appears to work if the perspective is narrow enough
- Current heavily Capitalist Democracy often seen as the best of the best (see USA). The end of History
- Not true
- Maybe it's time for something next?
We were short on answers... but now i'm curious. I think this weekend I'll read Douglas Rushkoff's
Open Source Democracy.