Definitions of apathy: an absence of emotion or enthusiasm. And: the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally.
I personally have felt apathetic about general elections since the last presidential election. In the past I have always voted in general elections but I realize now that I never knew anything about our political system, or the candidates I was voting for. I voted anyway because I felt it was my duty and a great privilege to be able to vote. My views on things have changed. The more I know about the realities of our political system the less interested I have become. The reality of power and wealth are that my own vote really means very little.
Common sense tells us that one vote is nearly meaningless. When there are millions of votes one means very little. It is similar to the lottery. We know that our chances of winning the lottery are millions to one, but at least if we do win we become rich. When we vote in a general election we know that one of the pre-approved candidates will win. We know that the rich elites of this country will win. We know that they lie about what they will do and we know that everything that they do will benefit the American royalty. I call them the American royalty. They are the 1% of the population who own 40% of all the wealth in the country and who have a virtual lock on all the power in this country. They own the media, the political process and the government.
Is it any wonder that I, like millions of other Americans, am apathetic about general elections? I admit that I have been ignorant of politics all my life. But one great interest I have had is history. And I think that by learning the history of civilization we can better understand human nature. One thing that I have learned is the historical distribution of wealth and power in societies that follows certain patterns over and over again. It has happened again now in modern day America as it did in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. A tiny elite owns most of the wealth and nearly all of the power in America. In Egypt one man would set himself up as a king and a God. He may live into his nineties and father a thousand children while the common man would live to be 35, maybe, and die of a thousand diseases or injuries. X-ray studies have shown that many of the common workers of Egypt to have completely worn-out bone joints perhaps by building the greatest monuments to the piggish nature of man: the pyramids. The wealth and power of a single man may never have been greater than the God-kings of ancient Egypt.
Democracy has evolved into the perfect system for the ruling elites. Give the people a vote. But then do whatever they want to aggrandize their own power and wealth. Most tyrants and dictatorships in the world today use the democratic model. They give their people the vote but no real power. Specifically I speak of Iran and North Korea. But Saudi Arabia also has the vote. Do the people of Saudi Arabia have political power? I think not. It all rests with the ruling elites. These countries are truly dictatorships. I do think that the people of the United States of America have some political power. I do not think that we here in America are living in a dictatorship. But I think the imbalance of wealth and power in America is extreme. And according to my sources this imbalance is as extreme now as it was before the great depression. History repeats itself again.
Another reason for my own apathy is the propaganda that constantly pours across our land. The media is owned by a very few corporations and as far as I can see the same ruling elite owns the media as owns all other power in our country. In my lifetime I have seen the most extreme changes in my country and they are not all good. I see social engineering propaganda in all the major media that has worked extraordinarily well. I never thought that I would ever see the day when apparently millions of people would be in favor of allowing two men “marrying” each other. I think this is the result of this propaganda that has engulfed our society over the last few decades. And when I mention this situation it is because I think “what’s the use?” If the ruling ‘politically correct worldview’ can be this successfully put into effect in our society that millions of people favor making this alien misadventure law, then I give up. Common sense is disposable. Politically correct propaganda wins and people are sheep-like. In the past the rulers would use brute force to rule the people and make no mistake they still do and will today. But how much easier to take advantage of the sheep-like nature of mankind and use the science of propaganda? Mankind is almost infinitely suggestible. For proof of that we need only go to the history of Nazi Germany. They were perhaps the first to widely use the science of propaganda to socially engineer their society. The people there were successfully persuaded of the most outlandish ideas! Scammers have always known the power of the big lie. Pie in the sky is always the tastiest. It works very well. Human nature does not change and America’s ruling elites fully use the power of propaganda to change society. Right now this power is being fully used to try and talk America out of the current depression. And I hope they can. In this case it could do some good.
There is no doubt that my own apathy towards politics is largely fueled by a sense of powerlessness. Recent events in America have added to that sense. In the last presidential election I heard Obama promise to get us out of Afghanistan. I heard it with my own ears. Instead he ordered 30 thousand more troupes to Afghanistan. I heard him promise to make the health care debate public. Instead it was behind closed doors. It was made secret. One recent poll by Pew Research Center, a respected polling company, asks a simple question “can you trust your government?” Nearly 80% of Americans responded no in that poll. I have reached the point where I believe I have no power in this society and no voice. They will do as they please. It is not ‘for the people’ it is ‘for the ruling elites’. Those are the American royalty. They are the 1%. They live lives of wealth and privilege rivaling the royalty of Europe. In recent events the richest people in America were bailed out at the expense of the American people even though, according to a CBS News poll, 53% of the people disapproved of these bailouts. Did our elected officials listen to the people or did they protect their own wealth and power at the people’s expense? We have a government by the rich, for the rich, and of the rich. I now believe that the best I can do for myself is vote for the candidate that promises the most crumbs from the rich man’s plate. I used to believe that by doing that the people might bankrupt America but that is a false idea. The rich will not bankrupt themselves. They already own 40% of the wealth in this country and have all the power. I think it is best to get what we can. Does that make me selfish when the God-kings and Queens of Washington live like royalty?
According to one article entitled “Voters’ Apathy Is All the Rage Now. All Across The World” two thirds of all people who have a right to vote would rather be dead than seen at a polling booth. In places like Russia and China and North Korea the ruling regimes get a solid 80% of the vote every time. So why bother to vote? According to Alexander Massa of the libertarian party ignorance and apathy among the citizenry has dire consequences for the Republic. He says cluelessness and apathy when it comes to politics is growing fast. And that it is “truly terrifying” But all this goes to show that the same obvious facts affect people the same way not only in this country but around the world. The fact is that in modern America, the outcomes are always in the bag and that one of the approved candidates will always win. They will do as they please and what they please is what pleases the established elites. They are all members of the same club. The same names come up year after year to be appointed to one cushy job or another. Hillary Clinton is the most pompous woman that I can name. What an ego. What a cushy job she has.
In an article by Ray Gano entitled “Rampant Apathy Proven in the US” he says that in the most recent election for mayor in Houston only 16.5% of the voters showed up to vote. And with this issue I would like to say that I differentiate in my apathy towards voting to say that I believe that on a local level rather than the general elections the people do have a chance to make a difference. Although human nature guarantees the same aspects of power hogging as in the general elections, at least here on the local level we do have a chance to affect policies that are important to us. But this is a stark example of apathy and I think it is useful and illustrative of the psychology of the masses in America today. Perhaps it is that the people of Huston feel the same helplessness that many do about the current state of power distribution in our society in general and that it “bleeds” over into the local elections. Maybe there is a feeling of powerlessness and “what’s the use?” Or maybe it is that the nature of mankind is that he is almost as dumb as cattle and as easily led as sheep, and that the ruling elites take full advantage of that human nature.
What is the cure for apathy in general elections? What ideas could be proposed to heighten interest in voting? Minds far more brilliant than mine have pondered this question and yet still the voter turnout declines. According to Kevin Anderson of the BBC, America has among the lowest voter turnout of any democracy in the world. His article entitled “The United States of Apathy?” goes on to mention several possible reasons for voter apathy in general elections. One reason that is mentioned is the fact that elected officials lie and break promises and that has also been mentioned in this paper as a partial cause for my own apathy. I am not the only one who has lost all faith in politicians it seems. Along with general reasons for apathy in general elections there are a million specific reasons each individual may have. In an article by Angela Vachon, one Heather Hamlin is quoted as saying “Until we elect a female president, I won’t feel right voting.” Of all the bone-headed reasons! Each person is different and there are many individual reasons for not voting. In an article by Idan Ivri entitled “The Dangers of Apathy” a lady by the name of Carla Tanchum has her own reasons for not voting. She says “My family and friends just have so many other things on our plates at the moment that [politics] kind of takes a back seat.” She doesn’t have time to follow the intricacies of politics it seems. In the same article, written in 2000, one Erica Waxer says "I intend to vote for Bush [because of his] policy on Israel," And this illustrates the reasons why people do go out and vote. It is self-interest and issues that are important to them.
What has motivated people to vote in the past and sparked interest in the political process? I would point to crisis conditions. In our war in Vietnam 50,000 men died after being drafted into the military. This high death rate sparked great interest in politics. Political action was taken in the form of violent protests. When people are being sent to die they take it personally. Political action in the form of violent protests, among other things, worked finally to motivate an end to the war in Vietnam. Could people being rendered into bloody sausage wait for general elections to vote? They took action to change the policies of failed American elite. Direct action, not voting, gave power to the people.
The greedy power elite of this country must love modern wars. Very few American soldiers are killed relative to past wars, but at the same time the “tools of the trade” have become infinitely more complex and expensive. One missile can cost a million dollars or more. That’s a lot of money lining the pockets of the elites. The military-industrial complex creates billionaires. One war after another has been the norm my entire life. When the Afghanistan war ends if it ever does, another will quickly arise. That is my opinion based on history. America kills and kills and kills. No wonder we are hated in many parts of the world. What other country has fought so many useless wars in the past century? But of course they do have one purpose and that is to make the richest people in the world even richer. Do voters have any power to stop these wars? No, and this is yet another example of powerlessness. My personal opinion is that mock violent protests are a more effective political action for the people than voting. After all, was it the vote or the violent protests of the people that got us out of Vietnam? By mock violent I mean the active shacking of signs, the shouting of slogans while waving of fists, the burning of symbolic icons-these actions are not violence but they give the appearance of violence and attract the attention of the media. I am opposed to doing any harm to any property or persons. And yet even though it may be only mock violence, these kinds of protests are dangerous for the people involved. They may be killed by the police even if their actions only simulate violence.
Noam Chomsky has some interesting observations on the political elite in this country. He dismisses our two party political systems as a ‘mirage’ orchestrated by the corporate state. There is a great deal of disillusionment with the political system in this country. There is a great deal of mistrust with politicians. People see the elites living like royalty and being bailed out at the expense of the public despite their wishes. They feel powerless to affect the policies. They know that America has been bled dry by the financial industry that has thousands of lobbyists in Washington. They know they have gotten a raw deal. They are angry! And they might even vote some of the politicians out of office in the next general election. But I wonder if it will matter. Won’t the new politicians be either democrats or republicans? And won’t they follow the party line just like their predecessors? Won’t the new ones create more laws that like the web of the spider further tie the American public into an unbreakable web that is always designed to aggrandize the wealth of the privileged class? I wonder how many people feel the same sense of futility that I feel. Individual people have very little power in our society In fact: that has always been true in every society. The best that we can do for ourselves is go along to get along. The government has armies of lawyers and it is always making new laws. There are millions of laws! The masses are sheep-like. They need to be led and they always have been ruled. But when the leach tentacles of government suck too much blood from the people they will revolt. It may not be a violent revolt but they will make their unhappiness known as they did when the Vietnam War was slaughtering thousands of Americans for the military industrial complex. I wonder how many men became billionaires as a result of all the wars we fought in the last 50 years. I will predict that this century, like the last one, will see many new wars that will create fabulous fortunes for rich. The death of people is less important to some people than their own wealth. Unfortunately, those people have a great deal of power in our society.
In concluding this paper I will say that apathy in general elections does not need a cure. Rather, it is a normal state of mind when people are presented with the realities of political power in America. They know that their vote has little meaning in a country run by greedy men and women who live like royalty and who’s every promise is a lie. It is a sense of futility that breeds apathy. It is a sense of powerlessness. This is normal human psychology. The current state of affairs in America guarantees that apathy in general elections will continue into the future, until some event like 911 happens again. Or until conditions for the common people turn into some crisis that generates their interest in politics.
Works Cited:
Anderson, Kevin, The United States of Apathy?, bbc.co.uk, Tuesday, 11 January, 2000,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/americas/2000/us_elections/vote_usa_2000/597444.stm
Hedges,Chris,Noam Chomsky Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’, truthdig.com
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/noam_chomsky_has_never_seen_anything_like_this_20100419/
Sidoti, Liz, Poll: Majority lacks trust in government, My Way News, Washington (AP), April 18th, 2010
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100419/D9F5PQ4G0.html
Vachon, Angela, Student Voter Apathy Continues, projects.jou.ufl.edu, October 22, 2004
http://projects.jou.ufl.edu/rtv3280f04/onlinestoryproject/angelastory.htm
CBS news poll, The New York Times, More than half of Americans disapprove of the economic bailout plan that was passed by Congress last week: both Republicans and Democrats disapprove of the bill, October 14, 2008
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:TXdVlM5aWj4J:www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Oct08b-economy.pdf+80%25+disapprove+of+bailouts&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShEOPlg_sUyUHKBv4y4qI3AoOePfn_yjr7qyB9dqS8HHhT5Yg82O_Vk7OPcob0-HxgUpxXnLSEZQ8aSh0H3oXP2UXJoWhxOfScZFr_k7MaMC9JmWfL2wccuyyYW4_EfZtX4IIXN&sig=AHIEtbQtWLHZrMfAFGN_dyRWBcdcsElAGA
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