Call to Action

     “Now comes the hard part--how do you convince your fellow Americans to move from weariness (there's no shortage of weariness) and move to action?”  This was one of the comments I received after writing my very first commentary, The Party is Over. Indeed, this will be the hard part. What will it take to get others, including people I don’t know, to get involved?  Millions of dollars have been spent in this same pursuit and it hasn't worked.  Educational programs have been introduced, even mandated and that has not worked. What possible thing could I have to offer that would incent another person to vote.  I still have difficulty finding the time needed in researching and making an intelligent voting decision.  Politics and its procedures are still very confusing and very frustrating to me. What am I supposed to do?

     My first thought in answering this is “Why?” Why don’t we vote, why don’t we care?  In my research I found Thomas Patterson, a Bradlee Professor of Government & the Press at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Patterson published the book, The Vanishing Voter (Knopf, 2002). Derived from his book is a five part series called; Where have all the Voters Gone? This series is published on the History News Network (HNN) website. I highly encourage the reading of his following series:

Part 1, Where Have All the Voters Gone, highlights the issue of the two parties and how their diluting platforms have led confusion to the American voter and the lack of party support.

Part 2, Why Do So Many Americans Hate Politics, addresses the mudslinging that becomes so negative and vile that many Americans simply turn it off and tune it out.

Part 3, Why Is News So Negative These Days, Discusses the media’s role. The framing and agenda setting we learned of in our government class lectures.

Part 4, Why the Re-election of Incumbents Year After Year Is a Threat to Democracy, this one is a real eye opener and discusses the PAC money we recently learned of.

And part 5, Can Anything Be Done to Increase Voter Participation,  coincides with my commentary’s thesis and demonstrates a few actions that could help in increasing participation. But even these suggestions by Patterson require changes above and beyond that of the single individual and thus puts me right back at square one. Or does it? Is this the answer right before me.

     I may not be able to influence the hundreds or even thousands but, if I can convince one person or even two to get more involved and they in turn can get two others then the multiplying effect, although not overnight, will increase the involvement needed to make the significant changes needed. Sharing articles like the one above that I am sharing with you, is the first step in the right direction.  Getting involved in conversations about politics and leading those conversations away from the negatives of politics to the positives of changes we are able to accomplish will in time take effect.  Finding, joining and promoting an interest group with the same ideas, hopes and dreams of a better way for the American people will also help.  Writing a simple letter or series of letters to your representatives will let them know that you are out there and that you are watching them. These are all little things and simple things that have the ability to grow, to snowball into greater things.

               

     I can make a difference and so can you!