At the political forum held in the DCC last Thursday, every politician who stood at the podium commented on how wonderful it was to see students registering to vote, and attending political debates. Sitting in the room listening to them saddened me. Should people participating in our republic be all that remarkable? I hope the answer to that is a resounding no.
Various members of the Poly staff have written on this topic, and on one occasion, a student wrote back to say something along the lines of, stop telling us to be active. We’re too busy to be active. We don’t have enough time to form an opinion. That letter disappointed me like few other things could have.
Our government can not function without participation from citizens. It’s as easy as that. And while some may think, “Well, I vote, I’m set,” they may be beating the vast majority of U.S. citizens, but it is still not ideal. We elect the people we feel can best make decisions so we don’t have to be involved in every single one, but that doesn’t mean you should completely distance yourself from the process.
Last spring, it was great to see legitimate public debate over an issue: the war in Iraq. I would love to see the same happen with many of the issues confronting our country, but I know it’s wishful thinking. People just don’t care about their government.
People seem to have grown weary of the abortion debate just as Congress passed a bill banning types of abortion that are very similar to one already declared unconstitutional. Does it bother anyone that when the proponents of the bill were told this, they merely said that they think the composition of the Supreme Court will have changed by then, and it won’t be challenged?
Texas was recently redistricted purely so that more Republicans would be elected to the national legislature. This isn’t speculation; Tom DeLay, House majority leader and orchestrator of the effort, actually gave the reason as, “I’m the majority leader, and I want more seats.” To top it off, when Texas Democrats fled the state, it seems resources from the new Department of Homeland Security were used to try to track them down. Is this how you think your government should operate?
These two issues are important to me, but may not be important to you, depending on your political opinions. There are plenty of important issues that anyone can take a stance on. For example, should the government continue to give out farm subsidies at the current levels, even though these subsidies are impoverishing millions around the world? You should all take the time to be aware of what’s going on in your name, and voice your opinion when necessary.
