The Apathetic Thinking Behind The Voter Apathy Discussion

"Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote for some man, we never get to vote on what he is to do."  - Will Rogers

Cynicism has corrupted the process

After every election, federal, provincial or municipal there is always a discussion about the low voter turnout. Media commentators write about it, open-line radio programs do shows on it and editorialists editorialize about it. In the end, it's just thoughtless chatter that always comes down to this. It's our fault, yours and mine,  but is it really? I don't accept that it is and I'm tired of the self-righteous rhetoric that comes from those who are responsible for what has happened to our electoral system.

I have followed elections for more than forty years. I voted as soon as I was eligible to vote and was proud to do so. I felt empowered and like I was participating in something important. I didn't so much follow election campaigns, I devoured the coverage like I was at an all-you-can-eat buffet half price sale.

Yestereday, I actually heard a news commentator ask this question of the guests on his show. "Do you think that we, in the media, are perhaps responsible for dumbing down the general public?" the backhanded arrogance  behind that comment is unconsciounable.

Politicians wring their hands about low voter engagement even as they take advantage of it to get elected. Academics line up for grant money to do studies on it and appear on television to pontificate about it. Even election offices, which run elections and a process to ensure that non-listed but elegible voters can still vote, can't get it right anymore. Of course, the intelligentsia, media and politicians tell us that it is our responsibility to ensure we're on the list but if that's true, why do we have to pay millions to others to screw it up? It doesn't matter what they do, it is never anyone else's fault but yours and mine. It's  mess and what should be our single most valuable right has been corrupted and broken by a cynical and self-serving elite.

The truth is that we all know why voters are turning away from the process in increasing numbers and it has nothing to do with apathy or being dumb.

Unlike the countless media types I see on Twitter who only talk to themselves, voters talk to each other. We're far more engaged (and enraged) than the elite chattering class realize.

We used to only be able to talk to those we knew but now we can reach thousands on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube among others. If the media and politicians really wanted to know why voters are turning their backs on voting, all they needed to do was tap into those networks rather than reporting the latest poll and then discussing the results among themselves as if only they understand the issue. They don't and they are too apathetic (or self-serving) to look beyond the same tired old cliches they discuss after every election.

The real truth is that voters aren't apathetic. They're increasingly fed up with a process that has become virtually futile. It's as simple as that.

When a process is broken and those in control of that process refuse to acknowledge or repair it, people begin to wash their hands of it and the people associated with it.

People are tired of being talked down to by a media elite that are as biased as the political parties they cover (and too frequently as arrogant), by spin doctors, pollsters and out and out lied to by politicians. If there is an apathy connected to low voter turnout, it is the apathy of those people who can't be bothered to look beyond their own opinions and who are unwiling to take responsibility for what they have done to our electoral process and our democracy.

You don't have to take my word for this, take a look around for a moment. The Occupy Wall St. protest, as misguided as its tactic are, is a response to the frustration many have with the system.

Social media sites are constantly buzzing with discontent, some of it poorly thought through and even more poorly expressed but not all. It's an indication of just how wide-spread the discontent is and it's there for all to see. People aren't apathetic, lower voter turnouts are an indication that they are giving up on the traditional process because it is broken and in the hands of those who broke it and will not fix it.

The tragedy for me is that people are fighting in other parts of the world to have democracy. A few years ago, a single man stood in front of a tank in Tianamen Square prepard to let it run over him as he silently protested the lack of democratic rights and freedoms in China. It was a brave and noble act that is demeaned and trivialized by those in exisitng democracies. who cheapen the democratic rights we enjoy, with their arrogance, their lack of objective reporting and lack of political integrity and vision.

Voters have not dumbed down, the elite have become fat and lazy. They've grown too used to doing as they please, saying what they must to be able to do what they want and voters are increasingly turning their backs on the mess that has been created.

We're Canadian and pride ourselves on our civility. That civility may prevent an Arab Spring from happening here (although the recent Vancouver riot over a bloody hockey game does make you wonder) but it doesn't mean that there isn't discontent.

Some in the media and elsewhere will tell you that you can only fix the system from within and that not voting is not a solution. It would be nice if they were right but they aren't. When those who control the system are blind to what they have done and continue to do to it and deaf to the discontent of those who are frustrated, voting becomes pointless. When you vote only to have the mandate ignored by those to whom it was given, it renders meaningless the act of voting. When something becomes pointless, people turn away from it in search of something better.

In business customers vote with their wallets and in show business they vote with their feet. All that means is that when you fail to deliver, people stop buying or stop coming to the performances. Nobody refers to that as apathy, it's thought of as the justifiable response to poor performance. What some are doing to our demcoractic process goes far beyond mere poor performance.

I still vote in every election but I no longer feel that it is an enobling experience or the exercise of my rights. I leave the polling booth feeling frustrated that I have just done is a pointless exercise. Even if the person I voted for wins, it will have no effect on the next few years. Elections are not about governing, they're about winning and after the election, the winning party remembers everything but what it promised the electorate it would do. The entire process has become so trivial, that even the media have turned election campaigns into little more than extended sports coverage.


It's a shamefull business and it's long past time for those in control of the business to either fix it or simply get out of the way and let someone else take over.

Whatever they choose, they definitely need to stop blaming the voter. The constant chatter about voter apathy is itself, lazy and apathetic. There is a need to look beyond the easy answers and face the hard cold truth.

Voters didn't corrupt the system, they're just fed up that their system...read that again "their system"....has been corrupted and so poorly served by a political elite and those who feed at their table.

© 2011 Maggie's Bear
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