Why have the people of the USA become so apathetic as to what happens in thier government?

Question

is it because they are so well off they don't really care about thier rights anymore?

Answer 1

Being well off certainly has a lot to do with it.

That said, for all the complaints about civil rights violations and other government intrusions and manipulation (much of which is real), life really isn't that bad in America.  In fact, it's pretty darn good for most of us.

People who are happy tend not to rock the boat too much.  And some people are far too paranoid about how bad things have really become...because things really aren't that bad.

Edit:  I have to chuckle when people go on about "huge" poverty issues in America.  Yes, we do have poverty issues...but they are not HUGE by any stretch of the word.  I'd like every single American living under the federal poverty level to take a paid trip to Africa...so that they can see what the face of TRUE POVERTY looks like!!

Fact:  The majority of Americans below the federal poverty level can still afford cable television and rent on a studio apartment.  THAT'S NOT POVERTY IN MY BOOK!!!!  Poverty is not knowing where your next meal will come from (and there is no food bank or shelter to feed you).  Poverty is watching your children DIE from malnutrition...not forcing them to wear hand-me-down clothing.  Poverty is having to ration water because the pump in your village is broken and nobody can afford to fix it!!

Americans belabouring their own poverty really make me sick...especially those who do it on the internet from the comfort of their heated homes.

Answer 2

That's apart of it. The other part of it is the upbringing of our children. Parents don't take the necessary time to teach their kids much of anything these days. Even s*x is something they let the schools handle. The schools spend most of their time these days indoctrinating our kids to whatever agenda they let in.

America needs the families to be built on a better foundation and we need to stop relying on Government to bail us out on any issue. Our Constitution is the Law of the land and our 3 branches of Government have been failing us. Soon we won't have all the rights we once had. States have lost many of their rights as it is.

We need God to start running our country... but I don't think He'd win an election against the devil because the devil will tell people what they want to hear and God will tell them the truth... people really do love their lies more than God.

Answer 3

Corporations seen to have all power Government seen as something which merely rubber stamps Corporate Will. Illusion of Democracy. Two Party system with occasional person elected that starts a war.  Strong United Nations comprised of citizens could change this protect rights in countries from corporations. Propaganda about it being evil  would emerge if U.N. effective though.

Answer 4

Clinton proved to be a liar.  Don't mention unfaithful (Hey, I told you NOT to mention it)!

Now Clinton the sequel, an accomplice after the fact, has the inside track to replace a president who is not believed, either!

Does any one still believe, Bush the sequel,  EITHER in "sins of omission" in New Orleans, nor 'sins of commission" in Iraq?!?

Since "tricky D!ck" Nixon's Watergate scandal, has America's trust in politicians been lower???

I think it is just way too confusing!  The race is wide open, and the candidates are putting away all sharp instruments to provide a unified front for the two clone parties.

I think his is why NY mayor Bloomberg is planning a Perot/Nader type third option, by running as an independent candidate against "dumb and dumber".

Answer 5

Maybe a lot of people think that it doesnt matter what they think, because it's all gonna turn out corrupt and horrid in some way or another anyways?

I'm not sure.

Answer 6

I think it's pretty sad myself.  How can you not care about your freedom or what your government does or doesn't do?

Answer 7

As a citizen of the US of A, I question how reliable your assertion that "the people of the USA" are "apathetic."

For example, the New Hampshire Secretary of State is sending more ballots to precincts where the voting today is so heavy that the supplies may be in short supply!

Answer 8

we are spolied and many of us take our governmental system for granted..

Answer 9

Ron Paul cured my apathy.

Answer 10

Not everyone is "well off".  There's still a huge poverty issue here. Its more of the "me, me, me" syndrome.  People don't care until something directly impacts them.

Answer 11

Because everyone is too busy doing one of the following:

Watching t.v.

Playing a video game

Shopping

We have become a nation who wants a "quick fix" to everything and if it doesn't entertain us, it isn't worth our time.

Answer 12

Are you a citizen of this country?

If so, do you vote and keep current on political topics?  

I know I do

If not, concentrate on your own countries issues, we'll handle things here just fine.

Answer 13

Because we live in a bubble?

Because we're fed whatever and we take it? Because we cannot read between the lines and think critically?

Because we're so arrogant that we think we're the world and we forget that we're only a small part of it?

Because in a society that supposedly praises the individual, if you're not with us, you're against us? So people just conform? From kindergarden, to highschool life and to adulthood?

Rights? I would have expected that people would make a huge scandal out of the rendition cases that the US government is involved in. In Europe they would probably be outraged at persons being abducted and imprisoned, tortured and incarcerated for years with no proof against them. Here, there were barely a few articles in a few newspapers.

Moreover, the real American society is rotting slowly, while the outside world, and us, are dazzled by the glitzy, unrealistic myth of the American dream.  Our education system is down, our economy is down and our health care system is down.

But give me Oprah and Kmart and American Idol and that's all I need. And give me Bush, an inept president that is still running this country, despite his blunders in international and home politics. And we take it, hoping that somebody else will vote for us in the next elections, somebody else will make the decisions for us and somebody else will improve our lives while we just sit in front of the TV.

Of course, there's a lot of potential, a lot that we have to offer, but more often than not we seem to be like a herd of bovines going wherever somebody points. I would like to see free thinking and hear the voice of the people more often.

Have I answered your question, at least partly?

Answer 14

I'll tell you why.

Because this whole thing is a fraud.

Those who don't vote know this and those who still do know it deep down unless they are naïve.

All governments are frauds. Legitimized crime rings. Like the Mafia except with the self-made veneer of righteousness (which actually makes them more sinister). It's all about the money, the resources, the power. And always has been.

Way back at the beginning of time when resources became scarcer there were those who were willing to horde the remaining to themselves alone at the detriment and denial of the others.

However one being could not do it alone against so many others. His individual power was not equal to their collective power. His individual power also may not have been equal to the individual power of another like him who had the same idea as he did.

As a result, he made deals with some of the others to share the goods in exchange for various forms of protection. These horders organized themselves better where some acted as guards, some acted as deceivers, some acted as helpers, some acted as lookouts, some acted as concealers. All kinds of methods to ensure the protection of the horded goods to share amongst this small group.

Things changed if the outsiders combined together to overwhelm the compacted group so more elaborate methods to protect the bulk of the horded goods were enacted. Some figured that by giving the outsiders a teeny tiny fraction of the good stuff they wouldn't be so inclined to go after the bulk anymore. Even more ingenious was the inequity of distributed goods. By giving one set of people a little more than another set the two groups would fight each other for the tiny fraction of goods never thinking to go after the big bulk. Divide and Conquer is just a time-tested human manipulation technique.

Basically where we are now is the long evolution of those basic themes. Outsiders rose against the greedy horders and their protectors before destroying them in the process so the reality of numbers shows that the outsiders will always be a threat in this pyramid scheme with the elites at the peak and the base at the bottom. Manipulation of messages was one way to quell the anger of the disenfranchised groups. Getting them to believe anything that kept them from going after what was good in this short existence called life helped out the greedy horders' aims.

The only REAL way to make change is to eliminate those who stand in the way of it. This "democracy" we supposedly live in is just another routine of many devised by those who seek to horde the most goods to themselves. They got outsiders putting all their time into making more goods never seeing much of the fruit of which they planted...and liking it! Amazing mindgames! Sometimes to make it really good they'll occasionally let an outsider on the inside so that outsider will parrot the viewpoints of those horders to his former brethren.

What you saw happen with Marie Antoinette and that French king was the real way to make change. What you saw happen with that Russian Czar in the early 1900's was the real way to make change. What you saw happen to that Aristide guy from Haiti was the real way to make change.

Your numbers must outdo their numbers. Your force must be greater than their force. And you must use those numbers to drown out their numbers. If you don't do that, nothing will really change.

We get partial change when they fear the people enough to concede a little more of the horded goods. But they know people will quiet down contented and they're home free. If the "ruling class" fears the majority of outsiders, then things will happen. This is why overtime was put together and holiday pay and workers' (slaves') rights and social security and medicare and civil rights and women's rights all that was put together. They feared a revolt from a united and organized group of people so they made concessions.

Voting is and has always been a farce. The only way to make change is to force change with the sheer number of united people.

People are apathetic because they realize this is the only way to do it but also know most people will not unite for any cause due to all of the mindgames they fall for. Life is short so the apathetic ones just deal and try to get by with the little bit of good stuff they have.

John Lucas