People have been discussing the next election as whether the Dems should left right or center, but I think people are missing the underlying issues. This morning I was listening to Chris Gantz (?) on CNN. He saw lack of voters not as apathy but as a result of civic disengagement: families don't discuss politics, parents don't vote, no civics classes, and cynicism of the process and political coverage limited to 30-sec attack ads. As much as I am concerned to see liberal values thrust aside by half the population, I am most disheartened to see lack of political involvement.
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Daily newspaper readership still hovers at
53-54% over the past few years. However, according to a
Pew report, only 31% received election information from the daily news. And according to the same Pew report, as cited in this
column by Mark Lloyd at the Center for American Progress, "while the numbers of people who regularly learned about the campaign and the candidates from cable news (38 percent) and the Internet (13 percent) rose, most Americans (42 percent) still relied on local television to get information about the presidential campaign."
In this election, a slim majority of voters voted based on one or two issues. We all talk about framing issues, but Dems are doing a horrible job, of explaining how, for example, "reforming Social Security actually effects seniors and Boomers. When we educate people all the time, people like John Kerry have to explain all the "nuances" in 1-hour speeches. Many people don't care about the nuances, they want to like the candidate. And if they already understand how Social Security, Medicare, WIC, etc work, and how certain decisions have already affected them, they can frame the issues themselves and make a truly educated decision -- which I think will actually be more liberal.
We now have a culture which sees politicians as "those people in Washington," as celebrities, not public servants. My grandparents used to write to their congressman, but now none of my family even thinks about it, even if I ask them to. Politicians do not encourage people to participate, except in elections. They don't often go out to visit their constituents after elections, unless it's a fundraiser. So why should people care? Why should they participate?
I have defined the issues I see them: The need for civic engagement, the need for political education, and the encouragement of healthy political debate by citizens and their public servants.
We across the blogosphere could very well assist in effecting these developments. There are groups who do this already, like the Center for American Progress, but we have such a netroots effort, we could share resources to educate our neighbors. I don't mean digitally, I mean person-to-person, honest debate, not attempting to convert someone to Democrat, but discussing the issues that are relevant to our communities and to individuals.
I ask for your input on possible ways to accomplish this in an organized fashion.