Quote:
Originally Posted by mobertol
I think most people are just fed-up and that translates into apathy, Eric.
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No. I can't accept that. All generalizations are flawed
Let's say we are talking about 70% of eligible voters who did not show up at the polls. To say that apathy ... terminal apathy ... is the sole cause just doesn't make sense to me. Assigning one, single cause is to ignore what might be a complex of reasons. One can counter that single generalization with a set of them. And come to a different conclusion which may or may not, in the opinion of a few, or maybe more than a few, explain the low turnout. The wealthy tend to vote, they have lots to protect; so, they vote for the party of the right which will best serve their interests. The educated tend to vote because they are aware not only of the issues, but also of the importance of voting. The middle classes will quite often vote because, although not as secure as the wealthy, they still have something to protect. The ones that don't vote are the ill- or under-educated, and the poor who are too busy struggling to get by to have any time to inform themselves about what is going on in politics. It seems that this large ... and becoming ever larger ... non-voting underclass may form, along with the truly apathetic and lazy, the non-voting mass. The policies of right-wing governments tend to push more and more people into this class. I'm not about to argue whether this is by accident or by design; but I do see that poverty and ignorance can combine with, perhaps even create, what seems to be an apathetic bloc.