As a non-American living in the USA, the political scene has been something that has been purely entertainment to me. Over the last few years though, as many of my friends have become old enough to vote, I have begun to pay more attention to it. Now many of the aspects of it are mind-boggling to an apathetic, pragmatist such as myself. I have my beliefs and attitudes to things but it's not natural for me to expect everyone to be on board with any one idea. Also the "facts" that either party seems to spurt are usually somewhat debatable as history is easily skewed and easy to revise.
I recently was introduced to this article on non-voters for the upcoming election and it got me thinking about the state of the elections right now. Before completely going into that, there are a couple things I've found interesting. First, people want to blame specific presidents for everything that has happened under their administration (and candidates do this during campaigning) but from what I learned in government classes, I thought checks and balances meant the president wasn't a monarch. It's an orchestra of politicians that make things move in Washington. So yes, they were in charge but I hardly see one man as responsible for anything the government does because if he was the only one with the stupid ideas. Second, people underestimate the "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" mentality that most successful politicians have to go through to get anything done. What this leaves is sketchy voting records if they run for president. Many times they are interested in a bill they've voted but it is just as likely they could have voted it in exchange for a bill they've proposed. That is politics.
But the sentiments of these non-voters seems to come from the fact that they see the president as just a cog in the government machine which is a fair argument in this system. Given that the president is only in for four or eight years and generally things have to align pretty well as far as Congress is concerned to get "their agendas" through. What it really comes to is the fact that the rich are closer to the higher end of Federal government than the poor or even middle class are. The heads of companies and other politicians are the ones with direct contact. Many people are seeing this and deciding not voting will show these people that they will not take this monopoly. My only argument is that if they are disenfranchised with the way Federal government works then they work on changing other levels or using communities or private sectors. Just not voting will only make it easier for the politicians you are against to keep doing what they're doing. It's a complicated scenario but I just found it interesting that this was an actual trend. I think people just need to watch out with Paul Ryan. He is an exact model of the current republicans and that is scary if Congress is on his side even as VP.
Well this has just been my insight so far. I don't claim to know the answers but I'm just trying to understand the way things work. This will be more relevant to me should I choose to be in America post college. Til then, I will work hard in my Dartmouth bubble.
Cheers,
Daniel
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