Dissatisfied, Disinterested

Dissatisfied, Disinterested - The Missourian: Editorials

Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 5:00 pm

Polls regularly indicate the majority of Americans are not happy with the direction of our federal government. Yet other polling shows that voters don’t know who the candidates are who, if elected, will be at the controls. We suspect that type of citizen isn’t entirely new. We become more aware of them at election times.

One would think that if citizens are concerned about the course this country is on they would be more attentive to what’s going on in politics, who the candidates are, and would be active participants in the process. However, polls also tell us some people of voting age don’t know the dates for the primary and general elections. And we all know citizens who have not bothered to register to vote.

Residents of other countries are amazed at the low number of people who do not vote in America. Having lived under other conditions where freedoms do not always reign, they can’t understand why Americans aren’t more active participants because of the freedoms they enjoy. The lack of appreciation for freedoms in America puzzles them.

We have a primary election coming up Aug. 7 and there are hordes of voting-age Missourians and other Americans who are unaware of the date, aren’t interested, don’t know who the candidates are, won’t vote and can be counted among those Americans who say they are dissatisfied with the direction of the country.

We take our voting rights too lightly. Do we give away that right too freely, with hardly any strings attached? The question is a fair one because too many Americans’ brains are infected with apathy!