States that Americans are failing to vote because they feel that
they no longer have an effect. Voters see themselves squeezed out of
democracy's count; Richard Harwood, president of the Harwood Group;
Looking into the relationship between citizens and their government for
the Kettering Foundation; People engage in specific areas of public life
only when they feel they can make a difference.
By
PT Staff, published on July 01, 1992
News & Trends
Conventional wisdom has it that Americans are failing to vote
because they don't care about politics. Not so. We are interested. but
feel we no longer have an effect.
Voters see themselves squeezed out of democracy's count by a de
facto ruling political class made up of power brokers, political action
committees, special-interest groups, lobbyists, and the media, reports
Richard Harwood. As president of the Harwood Group, a public-issues
research firm in Bethesda, Maryland, he has been looking into the
relationship between citizens and their government for the Kettering
inundation.
"Apathy suggests the making of a voluntary, choice," says the
group's report, Citizens and Politics. "Most Americans feel that today's
political situation has been thrust upon them. It is not something they
have--or would have--chosen for themselves."
People engage in specific areas of public life only when they feel
they can make a difference. It is precisely this connection that has
atrophied. The net result: frustration, anger, cynicism, and, most of
all, a pervading sense of impotence.
The frustration is felt at the state level. Unable to trust their
representatives, citizens are putting issues on ballots so they can make
decisions themselves. Limitations on the number of hems for elected
officials and dedicated taxes are also citizen efforts to recapture
control over the political process.
Frustration is also the force behind the anti-incumbent fever
sweeping the country. "They're grasping at anything they can get to make
the system respond," explains Harwood.
Citizens want to do more than simply register their preferences
every year or two at the voting booth. They want to make sure the right
issues are being framed. They want to know their voice matters in
politics on a more regular basis, and that there is at least the
possibility they can help create change.
ILLUSTRATION
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