90 Million Americans Can't Be Wrong

by Joel Poindexter

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Those who vote in presidential elections often describe the action as being part of their civic duty; it’s something every good citizen must do. Others consider voting to be a right, and elections are something which every American should participate in. After all, they remind us, not everyone has this right in other countries. Still, there are others who see voting as both a duty and a right, as if it could be both at the same time.

So when voter turnout was abysmally poor during last week’s primaries in Kansas and Missouri, many were upset. Talk radio hosts, Internet pundits, and members of the media all commented on the low participation rate, and quite a few were disturbed by the numbers. Kansas City, Missouri for instance, had a voter turnout of only 15%. Now, it’s generally understood that primaries and midterms have lower voter participation rates than presidential election years, so this ought not to surprise anyone, but there is some hope this year’s elections will have the lowest turnout of the last fifty.

When asked by USA Today and Suffolk University why they’re not planning to vote this November, respondents answered that: “They’re too busy. They aren’t excited about either candidate. Their vote doesn’t really matter. And nothing ever gets done, anyway.” All are excellent reasons, especially the last two, for they lay bare the great lie that elections solve anything. The results of the poll indicate that some 90 million Americans have no intention to vote in this year’s presidential election; let’s hope that number swells over the coming months.

Curtis Gans, who is director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, had this to say regarding why so few are expected to vote:

There’s a lot of lack of trust in our leaders, a lack of positive feelings about political institutions, a lack of quality education for large segments of the public, a lack of civic education, the fragmenting effects of waves of communications technology, the cynicism of the coverage of politics – I could go on with a long litany.

As far as a lack of civic education, this may be true, but it’s not for a lack of trying on the part of the government school systems. In every election cycle students in government schools vote on the national candidates; being homeschooled I never participated in such conditioning, but I distinctly remember my second-grade friends voting in the 1992 election for Bill Clinton. Students even hold their own elections, to choose from within their own ranks politicians who’re supposed to advocate for them with the administration, in order to get longer recess, treats in the cafeteria, and who knows what else. It’s one of the more disturbing attempts to indoctrinate children in the civic religion of democracy. But it’s not always successful.

One of those polled, Jamie Palmer, 35, has never voted, and good for her; if only I had could have such a clear conscience. When asked why she hadn’t, her reply was “[politicians] say the same things; they make promises; they don’t keep them. It’s ridiculous. If I vote, nothing is going to come of it. It’s just going to be like it is right now.” Fortunately, she was never fooled by the teachers shilling for the state at her school.

When discussing the issue of politics most people will argue that if you don’t vote it’s because you’re lazy, unpatriotic, or part of the problem with society. These are people who were taught what to think, not how to think.

As for the lazy charge, it may be true in many cases, but certainly not all of them. The USA Today poll indicated that at least some people didn’t want to take the time to follow politics or go to the polls, so not voting was less a deliberate choice as opposed to simply being a low priority. But for the vast majority of non-voters that I know, it’s a conscious choice they’ve made based on sound principles. They have clear and well thought out arguments against voting, but in no way could they be considered lazy. They are instead wrapped up in educating others, they are journalists, organizers, activists, and dedicated to fostering parallel institutions to compete with and hopefully replace those of the corporatist/statist system now in place.

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