Why people don't vote--politicians are to blame

"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."
- Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (1911-2003)

Each time there is an election in a democratic country (at least in the western world), those interested in politics wonder why more people don't vote and how they can be persuaded to vote.

It's as if by voting people will have validated the democratic process, which is not embraced in many other parts of the world.

There are two main reasons why people don't vote. First is that they don't know enough about the candidates or the issues to hazard an opinion on a ballot.

Second is that they are uncomfortable about electing people with whom they are not comfortable--they view politicians as essentially dishonest or at least more concerned about their own best interests than those of their constituents. When they think about politics, they want to take a shower to clean themselves from the foul experience.

The first reason--lack of knowledge and familiarity with the issues and candidates--is easy to rectify, but no one wants to solve the problem. There is no one place where people can go to learn facts, instead of having to sort through trash bins of hyperbole and propaganda in the usual sources. 'Turning It Around' makes a provision for this in a way that owuld cost almost nothing.

People remain ignorant about political issues because information is not readily available in a non-partisan form. TIA has a way to make the information available in a way that will be embraced by everyone.

As for the second reason why people don't vote--they don't care to be associated with what they consider to be dishonest people--this can be solved the same way as the first. When people know more about how their lives are being affected by decisions their government representatives make, they will make sure that people they believe to be honest are on the ballot.

Ignorance of the issues and dislike of politicians in general are really two sides of the same coin.

The real problem is not that people don't care enough to vote. The real problem is that they know they don't know enough to make a reasonable decision or they don't know a candidate they know they can trust to make honst decisions.

No one benefits by ignorance by the public. Except maybe present politicians who got where they are because too many people stayed home on election day.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to provide knowledge for those who don't care about politics and who have become comfortable with their own ignorance.
Learn more at http;//billallin.com/cgi/index.pl