Why do you think fewer people vote today than did in the past?

Question

it might sound like im makin other people do my home work but this is for my mid term 60% of my grade i need help im very confuzed please support with detail

Answer 1

Probably voter apathy doesn't only come out of cynicism but also out of comfort. This 'comfort' is not absolute but is a comfort drawn out from living everyday life passively.

We go to work, we shop/consume (possibly more than ever before), we watch TV/entertainment more, our attention is diverted and important issues are only given to us in soundbite form.

Perhaps politics has plateaued. In big cities, infrastructures are in place, political, bureaucratical systems are in place, albeit not great and universal for everyone's needs, but somehow we carry on, and we could carry on with the systems in place for some time, withot really involving ourselves politically and therefore just living our day-to-day lives obliviously.

The average person could go their whole life not voting and how much would really affect them? Ok, everything affects us, but we just moan a bit and then decide what items we're going to buy next day on our shopping trips.

Ok, prices go up, transport issues may affect us, schools/hospitals may close, as much social, economic, political adersity there is out there, what do the majority of us do, other than vote every 4-5 years..? Hence we are fairly 'comfortable' with accepting what happens rather than seeking to cause change. We may not 'feel' comfortable with political decisions and outcomes but at the same time we cannot muster the energy to seek change. Have you noticed how protest turnout in many cities has diminished? Most political issues are now a spectator sport. Watch it on TV...

Sure, there's no way of escaping society and politics and rules, but somehow we are managing politics through consumer-led lifestyles. I forget who said it but consumption is now what provides our 'frame of orientation'.

Consumer-led lifestyles rule...

In a past sense, industries have now fragmented and have their own political persuasive power. Now, with volatile economic markets, job security is low for example, but there's no real political framework to vent this frustration, which political party would you now choose to put this point across (?), where now it's you against a big multi-national. Mass strikes are out.

In the past, industries were subsidised through governments to promote a national identity and build/reconstruct war-torn cities and land. Rebuilding a country involved recruiting the masses and governments could secure votes through forging a national identity and promise of a new future.

Hope there's something here.

Reards

Answer 2

Because the middle class & unions are declining and they feel alienated.  Also young voters were brought up in a corporate society where the media doesn't talk about real issues only entertainment.  There's nothing for them to latch onto in the news.  Do we hear about Afghanistan?  Do we see soldiers brought back in body bags?  Do we see the bullets flashing?  

We did in Vietnam & even In Desert Storm we saw more.

NoW our President tells us "be afraid"  "go shopping" &" I'll worry about the war".  As he goes around stealing trillions of $ from society & gives it to his buddies.

The # of middle class is declining & the # of poor are increasing ...all they can worry about is where their next meal is coming from & hopefully that no one will get sick.

We have a corporate, mercenary army in Blackwater which is almost as large in # as the real US Army.  I think those contractors have to sign a confidentiality clause. So we certainly don't hear anything from them.

Does anyone ask why a US embassy that is bigger than Vatican City in Rome is being built?  Are we going to be told the truth about the Carlyle Group, the Saudis & why we're not stepping back & letting the Iraqis take over running their own country?  Before we came they seemed to do fine working their own oil fields...but Bush wants them for his friends...that includes the United Kingdom.

There is no draft which would make the picture & idea of the Iraqi war more real to us & we'd really start asking, "What are we fighting for?" (a line from a song in the early 60's).

Well that's it for me.

Good luck

Answer 3

since so much of your grade rides on this

answer wait till you get a few answers &

compare but I thinkfewer people vote today

because there is so much corruption & people

have been duped over & over by various

politicians & most peoplle don't like

getting 'played' like that