Why don't we think about politics?

Posted by Robert Sharp Aug 31, 2006

Something has been bothering me lately. Pink101 in the forums brought it to my attention, and it has weighed on me ever since. We live in a democratic state (OK, technically a republic). That means that the people have political power. Our views on government matter, at least collectively. Despite this, the average American (or Canadian, British citizen, etc.) spends very little time thinking about political issues. Instead, most people go with their gut feelings. If something feels right, they vote for it.

But where do these gut feelings come from? We are inundated with advertising. Companies spend millions every year to try to influence our purchases. You can bet they've researched to make sure such spending would work. So let's assume it does work. That means we are influenced in subtle ways all the time, at least where purchases are concerned. But what about politics?

In politics, our influences tend to be family and friends, i.e. upbringing. Religion plays a role as well, but most of that is filtered through family. So our basic moral/political beliefs are formed in our childhood. We can break free of them, but only through inspecting our own beliefs. How many people do that? It's much easier to accept what we already believe, to be a liberal if our parents were liberal and conservative if they were conservative. It's easy to fall in line with what our friends believe; we want to fit in.

But U.S. citizens in particular need to be aware that they are responsible for the most powerful nation on the planet right now. To use that power irresponsibly, in any way, reflects on them as much as the government. In a democracy, citizens have the ability to change the government. Unfortunately, most are too busy with the new Fall television schedule to exercise that ability.