Vote Democracy

By Alex Hunley

The term, “grass-roots politics” is viewed now with a certain denigrating sentimentalism in this country. We might relish the quaintness of a hard-fought city council or school board election. As a result of our merely half-hearted nods toward local and state politics, as a population we seem to retrain any trace of interest in politics back upon the telecast entertainment of the federal government. Many people could tell you how many times the president mispronounced the world “nuclear” in a given day, but far fewer could tell you the name of a state supreme court justice or the secretary of education in their state.

We despair at our feeble voter turnout, the worst on average of any industrialized nation. We put hope in voter registration drives to “get out the vote.” But why is it that this culture, which in many cases is overly eager to profess its belief in the values of democracy, has a citizenry so reluctant to exercise the precious rites of their supposed tradition? Apathy, I think, is consequent to the level of abstraction that separates the sphere of federal politics from the everyday life experiences of most citizens. Glorified by a media hooked on the sensational, the common portrayal of the national government is similar in nature to a high-stakes sporting event. Especially during presidential elections, the country is made to believe that their attention should be focused on two white men of Ivy-League education purporting to represent the spectrum of belief of a constituency of more than two-hundred-fifty million people. Debate and campaign rhetoric lavishly spew fiscal figures by the trillions of dollars, and our population is expected to pick which realignment of decimal places best suits their worldview. This is, of course, not to demean the role or scope of the federal government. However, I think it is vital to highlight the absurdity herein, pointing out traits that contribute to a culture of passivity.

To make meaningful again the term “grass-roots politics” is essential to sustaining a healthy democratic government. By knowing how the civic structures nearest to one’s lived experience operate, a citizen comes to know the actualized meaning of democracy. Building upon an engaged knowledge of the political ecology of one’s own environment, the policies of one’s state government are given context in their visible ramifications upon said locality. A citizen who is engaged in his or her local political community will find that their actions suddenly have real, visible ramifications. And with this local functionality understood, individuals may come to realize the continuum of influence that supports our entire governmental system. Only if we erase the understanding gap between life and politics, I believe, can democracy flourish. It is the abstraction of issues to an entirely conceptual realm of discourse that I think begets the condition of virtual disenfranchisement by apathy. Writers are often told that it is best to “write what you know.” I believe that this sentiment is important in politics as well. Before concentrating upon the politics of a remote national government, it is important to “vote what you know,” to build your comprehension of where exactly your vote fits into the larger scheme. Voting is important, but voting for educated and discerning beliefs is indispensable for the fulfillment of democratic theory.