DO PEOPLE REALLY CARE WHO WINS AN ELECTION?
Listening to all the political hoopla, and the media working hard for ratings, there is an interesting factor in all of this: are people REALLY interested in the elections? How many people are interested enough to go out and VOTE? According to some polls…NOT A LOT, NOT ENOUGH.
According to the United States Election Project (http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html), out of the 213,313,508 people eligible to vote, only 132,653,958 voted in the past election. That is about 62%. That means that 38% of the eligible voters DID NOT VOTE! Is this fair?
Here are some interesting facts:
In the 2008 Census Bureau voting survey, topping the list of reasons for not voting is a lack of interest (13%) or a dislike of the candidates or issues (13%). More than a quarter of registered nonvoters in 2008 didn’t vote because they weren’t interested or didn’t like their choices.
Many reported illness or disability (15%), especially among older registered nonvoters. Others were too busy, or had conflicting schedules (17%). That’s about a third of the registered nonvoters.
Of the remainder, many had some logistical problem with the process: 6% had problems with their voter registration, 3% did not have convenient polling places, and another 3% had some sort of transportation problem. And 0.2% reported that bad weather conditions kept them from the polls on Election Day.
So, even though the reasons are somewhat logical, they also show that the system does not facilitate the process; many countries have much higher voter participation than the United States. It all boils down to big interests and the political parties who do not cooperate in providing a fair system, a system where EVERYONE can vote and be heard. A simple example, why do elections have to be on a work day? Why can’t they be on a weekend? That would probably eliminate the fact that some people are too busy or have conflicting schedules.
I think its time that the American people open their eyes. It is a corrupt system, no matter what party is in power. It is not a representative democracy; it is a representative dictatorship, based solely on ideological and big interests only. As I have said many times, the voice of all Americans will never be heard as long as the people demand respect and not money to “purchase” elections….just like in Florida.
See you next week!
