Apathy and Politics

Plato once wrote that, "The penalty good men pay for indifferene towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

It seems to me that for too long, citizens of my generation (Gen X) have been very indifferent towards politics. The system was so large and convoluted that we didn't think our voice mattered, so we ignored it thinking that we cannot influence the system. When we decided to actually vote in past elections, many of us felt as if our voice was completely ignored due to some dubious issues in the voting system. Many of us gave up.....that is until recently.

The election of the new President has certainly triggered a firestorm of public opinion and passion on all sides of the political spectrum. For a Democracy, this passion is a good thing no matter what side you are on. This passion has also ignited a sentiment among the citizenry to monitor and pay more attention to the political establishment. Now, with the presence of the Internet, a new kind of free press exists....one that allows the average citizen to instantly have their voices heard in public forums. While this has its drawbacks of course, such as giving people the instant ability to publish scrupulous and unsubstantiated claims, it makes people in the government think twice about their actions and words....they know that the people are watching and can call them out on their actions. In a very real sense, it keeps them honest.

Plato was right, it is important for the people to pay attention and not get comfortable. There are things happening everyday in our government that go unnoticed that directly affect us. Some good and some bad. The point is that political apathy is not an acceptable quality in a citizen of the most poweful country in the world. All actions or inaction create an outcome of some kind. These outcomes not only affect us, but those around us well....including people of other nations. So the question now is, what outcome do you want for yourself, for your family, and your nation?

Pay attention and speak up when necessary. Otherwise, it is not our Democracy that fails us as so many of us might feel, it is WE who fail our Democracy.