“Apathy is a trait shared by people who can never figure out why their lives are always in the same stalled position.” Richard Ray
Politics is not a fun topic. Trust me I get it. As someone that felt absolutely disenfranchised by the process, I understand not feeling as if there was anyone out there that spoke to the issues most important to me and just as significantly I felt like my voice did not matter… I could not have been more wrong.
Everyone has a voice. Once you learn how the sordid and convoluted system works, then you can effectuate the importance of ensuring that your voice is in fact one that is heard.
You cannot be overwhelmed by how daunting the prospect is of effectuating change. It is potentially overwhelming. Politics and government appear to be run by professional politicians who are run by special interest groups, who are run by wealthy individuals who create and manipulate all of the above in order to protect their many interests. So how do us “little people” have the ability to have any real input in a system that is clearly created with us as little more than an inconvenient afterthought?
We never give up… we remain resilient. We learn how the system really works to combat the apathy that they promote and count on to ensure how our impact and voice remains minimized. The system is made to count a plurality of the people’s wishes and wants. The system is flawed, but if we all participate, then we have the ability to ensure that the wishes of the majority of the people are in fact heard.
I realize that this is a bit of circular logic, but bear with me. Special interests and groups that do not actually speak for or control a majority of the actual population’s position count on our apathy to further promote their agendas. The more we do not participate in the process, the more an actual small group or minority of the populace can in fact control policies and politics.
People often lament the state of the choices that we have in politics. They complain that there are not enough quality people who actually care about the will of the people. This can only ever change when people begin to participate in large numbers. It does not presently work because there are too significant percentage of people who for a multitude of reasons do not presently participate in the political process.
The political process is about being involved and engaged on every level, starting with picking local representatives and judges. Far too many people, if they even participate in the process, only do so during presidential elections. They do not understand the importance of their activism on the most local levels on up. The less people that participate, gives those that do rights and power that they would not be able to maintain and yield if the people really galvanized and participated as a whole.
The less you participate the more power you give to a true minority of the actual population to control your destiny. Apathy is not okay… it is not a better alternative to participating even, is that participation includes doubts and frustrations with the process. We have to work within the system until we can effectively change the system. We can not expect or create change by sitting on the sidelines… by not caring… by being overwhelmed by the process… by giving up.
Politics is not fun. Politics can seem complicated, and only for the rich and powerful, but we all must understand that a small segment of the population that controls the masses, does so by counting on us not understanding the true collective power we in fact have. Now more than ever is the time to understand how much our collective voices count and can effectuate real change that affects the will of real people.
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#politics, #apathy, #willofthepeople, #democracy
