Political Apathy
Don't just sit back and watch
Collin Binkley
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Opinion
At what point will the American public turn into the crotchety old man who rants about "kids these days and their lack of values?" And by "kids," I mean politicians.
With all the political hoopla that has been going on in recent months, it seems that the American public is very tolerant, to the point of complacence. All seemed well when investigators announced that Eliot Spitzer had been seeing a call girl for an extended period of time - the public seemed justifiably shocked and appalled. Spitzer made the cut as clean as possible when he quickly resigned, and people thought justice had been dealt. But the next week, in true political style, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson one-upped Spitzer by revealing that he and his wife have both been involved in affairs, and that he has been a marijuana and cocaine user.
And the Democratic National Party has seen its fair share of vice as well with the incessant bickering of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Some people say their fighting is splitting the Democratic Party, others say that their jabs are harmless and just a part of the electoral process. I say that it is destroying American politics in one deft stroke.
If there is one good way to insult the American people and inject them with skepticism, it is found in consistently lying to them. Obama said he never heard the inflammatory remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, although he consistently attended Wright's church services for a number of years and claims to be good friends with him. And Hillary made a mockery of herself when she told her frightful story of landing in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire and running for cover as soon as she landed, never even receiving a greeting ceremony. But then CBS re-aired coverage from the Bosnia visit, and it turns out there were no snipers, and Hillary, in fact, did get her greeting ceremony.
And throughout all this, the American public has seems more or less indifferent. I'm not sure when the schism between politicians and the public happened, but it did, and now it seems that the American people just want round to up our politicians, let them have at it in a fight-to-the-death cage match, and then quickly forget about them.
But sitting back and letting that happen is a disservice to us, it destroys the accountability that is supposed to be integral to Democracy. We are supposed to use our right to vote to elect good leaders, not the best of a few bad leaders. There's no quick solution to any of these serious problems, but the least we can do, if we want to help ourselves, is to be involved - don't just sit back and watch.
cbinkley@capital.edu
With all the political hoopla that has been going on in recent months, it seems that the American public is very tolerant, to the point of complacence. All seemed well when investigators announced that Eliot Spitzer had been seeing a call girl for an extended period of time - the public seemed justifiably shocked and appalled. Spitzer made the cut as clean as possible when he quickly resigned, and people thought justice had been dealt. But the next week, in true political style, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson one-upped Spitzer by revealing that he and his wife have both been involved in affairs, and that he has been a marijuana and cocaine user.
And the Democratic National Party has seen its fair share of vice as well with the incessant bickering of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Some people say their fighting is splitting the Democratic Party, others say that their jabs are harmless and just a part of the electoral process. I say that it is destroying American politics in one deft stroke.
If there is one good way to insult the American people and inject them with skepticism, it is found in consistently lying to them. Obama said he never heard the inflammatory remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, although he consistently attended Wright's church services for a number of years and claims to be good friends with him. And Hillary made a mockery of herself when she told her frightful story of landing in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire and running for cover as soon as she landed, never even receiving a greeting ceremony. But then CBS re-aired coverage from the Bosnia visit, and it turns out there were no snipers, and Hillary, in fact, did get her greeting ceremony.
And throughout all this, the American public has seems more or less indifferent. I'm not sure when the schism between politicians and the public happened, but it did, and now it seems that the American people just want round to up our politicians, let them have at it in a fight-to-the-death cage match, and then quickly forget about them.
But sitting back and letting that happen is a disservice to us, it destroys the accountability that is supposed to be integral to Democracy. We are supposed to use our right to vote to elect good leaders, not the best of a few bad leaders. There's no quick solution to any of these serious problems, but the least we can do, if we want to help ourselves, is to be involved - don't just sit back and watch.
cbinkley@capital.edu
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