Thursday, November 10, 2011

Cynicism, Apathy, Distraction, Disengagement

I have things to say on this.  After an election day (I worked for Suzanne Lee for Boston City Council on Tuesday), I inevitably am left with a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction/unease about what it means to VOTE and ENGAGE with our democracy.  Even though I personally successfully encouraged many people to vote, the ones who DIDN'T are the ones that stick with me.

I'm going say more when I get around to it.  But for now, a link or two:


PARTICIPATION IS DOWN
CYNICISM
  • Blue Mass Group | Some Final Campaign Thoughts, and a Thank You - http://bit.ly/SaQs4m (12/9/2012)
    • ...according to the Globe, Elizabeth Warren had no specific vision for the future. (Yes, they really said that!) And the only reason she won was because of what Republicans like to call “the Democratic machine”.... There’s a name for this kind of thinking. It is cynicism. The mainstream press is heavily invested in it. Day after day, year after year, we are told — as if it was self-evident — that our country is fundamentally conservative, that people with ideals and vision are deluding themselves, that all political views are equally valid, and that the problem with those of us who work for Democrats is that we’re unwilling to compromise. 
      • (Curiously, that same argument was never, as far as I know, applied to Scott Brown. In spite of Brown co-sponsoring the infamous Blount amendment, and holding Wall Street reform hostage till 19 billion dollars of concessions were made to large banks, and then intervening to water down the regulations implementing the bill, and many similar actions of his in the Senate, Scott Brown continues to be characterized in the press as some sort of “moderate”.)
    • But we had a candidate who in everything she did showed that cynicism was not so powerful after all. We had a candidate who was not afraid to express what we have felt for so long. She spoke, not as as some sort of technocrat — “I know business, so I’m qualified to be a political leader.” Rather, she spoke in terms of what we hold in common — our obligations to each other and to the generations that follow us. The ability we have to provide good jobs, to invest in education and research, to create a society in which everyone pays their fair share and everyone gets a fair shake.
  • Why Politicians Get Away With Lying - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com (1/22/2012) 
GET POSITIVE:
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
  • Compulsory Voting?: Peter Orszag, "Make Voting Mandatory," Bloombuerg, 6/19/2012 http://bloom.bg/Mrsmuc
    • As William Galston of the Brookings Institution argues, “Jury duty is mandatory; why not voting?” Mandating voting has a clear effect: It raises participation rates. Before Australia adopted compulsory voting in 1924, for example, it had turnout rates similar to those of the U.S. After voting became mandatory, participation immediately jumped from 59 percent in the election of 1922 to 91 percent in the election of 1925.
  • Dear Barack. » onlineJournal | The Liberator Magazine - (2008) http://bit.ly/PL6z0D
_____
See also this blog topic: At least the War on Voting is Going Well and Disenfranchisement and Race and Poverty
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

First names requested for commenters! Choose the "Name/URL" comment type on the menu (URL not required).

Comments are moderated and will not immediately appear. I may not approve comments that are negative in tone, nasty or unproductive, the final arbitration of which is dependent on me alone. : )

Anonymous pissy comments will not be approved, so don't bother. If you want to fight with me, do it on twitter. thanks!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)