Saturday, November 15, 2014

It isn't policy that is wrong but instead it is apathy (#2115)

We progressive democrats are not so wrong with how we see our future. Where we are lacking is in convincing others to care enough to cast a vote. There should be no more question as to our policies and their ability to improve all of our lives. The bigger question is how do we get all of us to care? Short of offering incentives or disincentives, which would take an act of Congress, then approval by our President and then confirmation by our Supreme Court. I don't see that happening at this time so what else is available for us to consider? Scaring/warning people with dire circumstances works on many but not a near enough of a majority to be successful. The problem is that people seem to think that things are fine no matter who is in charge. They are not keeping themselves informed enough to make the necessary changes in our politics. Apparently to them all politicians are weak and corrupt to some degree so when they are publicized for their failures it is just business as usual, nothing to see here and people just keep about their own lives. So shaming politicians doesn't carry much influence in getting people to vote. Shaming people who don't vote doesn't seem to work either. I know I am listing a lot of ideas that don't work but through the process of elimination hopefully I, we, will find a way to motivate people to care about the direction of our country. We have had many hardships on our society because of greedy policies aimed at the wealthy but that has only limited effect in stirring people to vote against them. We have had a minority president for the first time and that seemed to stir more people to vote and in 2016 it looks like we will have the first female candidate for president who has a better than even chance at winning. She will attract more people to vote but still the underlying problem is voter apathy and short of something else I haven't considered here, voter apathy will be with us for many more years to come.

1 comment:

Ara said...

Democrats have a tendency to believe that facts and logic are enough to move people. It doesn't work that way. Emotions move people. Facts are important only isofar as they elicit the desired emotion. For example, Republicans move their base by enflaming the emotion os resentment against those who get welfare, "something for nothing." It's worked flawlessly for nearly 50 years. Democrats fall into the trap of quoting all sorts of facts and figures to refute the argument. But there's a old saying in politics: "If you're explaining, you're losing." Instead of refuting the Republicans contention, Democrats should instead talk about the trillions of dollars shelled out to corporate welfare queens in the form of subsidies, loopholes, etc. A shockingly high number of the biggest, most successful companies pay no corporate tax whatsoever. And don't get me started on the banks and insurance companies. These are facts that Democrats could use to arouse they base. But they hardly ever go there. The results speak for themselves.