Millsaps Introduction to American Politics

Millsaps Introduction to American Politics

In my opinion, the greatest failure in the American Political system is the failure on the part of American citizens when it comes to voting. Americans are quick to complain about whatever problems arise in the country, but ironically many of them are the very ones who passed up the great freedom to vote. Unlike sham “elections” that may take place in some countries, in the United States people actually have a say in which leaders are elected both on a national and local level. Given that fact, it is depressing that many Americans have mindsets that their vote “doesn’t mean anything” or “doesn’t count towards the election because it’s just one vote.” Without elections American’s would lose a primary component of our system of democracy. Many potential voters think about voting but never go through with it, and their potential votes are subsequently lost. The result is a large number of citizens whose opinions are never correctly expressed. Complaining about problems in America is completely acceptable, but only if the person who is doing the complaining has actually spent the mere minutes that it takes to fill out a ballot and place their vote. Registering to vote is very simple and takes minutes. It is a failure on the part of the American political system that so few voters turn out at the polls.

I think that the root of this problem is twofold. First, there is a general sense of voter efficacy. By that I mean that many voters feel that their vote, in the grand scheme of things, means very little overall. In fact, this is completely untrue, and when millions of people think in that manner the result is crippling to American politics. One of the causes of the apathetic attitude exhibited by Americans is a lack of political education. This leads me to the second root of this problem. Many potential voters have no idea whether they are liberal or conservative and have never even thought about which leader they would want to elect. I think that because many high schools do not require an American Government class, when people reach a legal voting age they have not been encouraged to vote. I know for a fact that many of the students that I graduated from high school with were completely politically apathetic, and had no intentions of registering to vote. When I shared with them the ease that I experienced when signing up to vote at the Courthouse, many of them announced that they “didn’t have time” or “just weren’t really interested.” I can understand complete and pure apathy, but only if the apathetic person has actually considered all of the options and then determined not to vote. The very core of the problem is that many people not only think that their vote does not count, but they have no idea how to go about the logistics of actually voting.