Well, it's election time again, and we all know what that means. No, not just being bombarded by commercials showing Jesse Helms playing with his grandkids in a pathetic attempt to portray him as a lovable, huggable softie. It means another round of rhetoric about low voter turnout and the general apathy of the average American toward politics.
Ideally, each and every citizen would be informed about every election and would show up at the polls on election day as sure as bread rises. But in today's fast-paced society, with more and more families in which both parents work and have less and less time for anything else, this ideal is an impossible dream.
Certainly a lack of time is not a compelling reason to forsake the responsibility we all have to a political system that is designed around our participation; involvement in government is extremely important. But the fact that voting is on the decline is not in itself a cause for alarm. Nazi Germany boasted the highest rate of political participation in the history of civilization. It is the quality, not the quantity, of participants that should be the focus of attention.
A well-informed electorate is the most important element: Whether that group comprises 40 percent or 90 percent of potential voters is of secondary importance.
The problem is that it takes time and effort to educate oneself about an election, and many Americans simply don't wish to put forth that kind of effort. For most people, putting food on the table and spending time with family takes priority over poring over newspapers to learn the lieutenant governor's secretary's stance on school lunches-and justifiably so.
In the 1820s and 1830s, during the Jacksonian democracy era, political participation was a way of life-even a form of entertainment-and voter turnout regularly ran at about 85 percent. Today, it is about 52 percent. But there have been massive changes in the country since the days when the likes of Webster and Clay packed town halls for their great debates. Back then, politics just mattered more. The course of a young nation was being determined, and everyone wanted his say in what that course would be.
Today, the government has become so huge and diluted that people can't see the impact of elections in their daily lives. There are simply too many issues, and what's more, too many elections for the average American to care about.
Another factor in the equation is that the two parties have grown to resemble each other so closely that voters feel that it doesn't matter who wins.
The bottom line is that there are only so many people who care enough and, more importantly, know enough, to participate in politics. Statistics show that those who do vote tend to be more educated than those who don't. This state of affairs is one that the writers of the Constitution favored.
There is a popular misconception that the Founders wanted to create a participatory democracy in which the public controlled as much of the government as possible. In reality, the Founders had a great distrust of the masses because they feared that emotions would lead less-informed voters to make irresponsible decisions.
What they envisioned was a republican government where the most educated and able citizens would choose representatives who would in turn govern in the best interest of the people. Of course, their conception of who was qualified to vote was shaped by cultural mores of the time. I'm not calling for a return to all-male, all-white suffrage. But their general idea to limit participation holds; let those who know best make the decisions.
Decreased political participation would be worrisome if it indicated a general malaise in our society, but evidence suggests that this is simply not the case. Participation in volunteer activities and neighborhood associations have enjoyed increasing support in recent years. Campaign contributions are also up. People are getting involved in other ways, channeling their energies into activities that hit closer to home and whose results have a more immediate impact.
Nonetheless, we need people to vote in America, or the whole system breaks down. Those who are able to educate themselves about the issues should get to the polls to make their voices heard. But it is preferable for those who either can't or choose not to become informed to abstain rather than make an uninformed decision. The last thing we need is more Pat Buchanan supporters.
Rather than provide cause for panic, the shift from voting toward other forms of civic participation represents a natural shift in the way Americans view politics that reflects the changes occurring in our society.
Parker Stanberry is a Trinity sophomore.
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