By Gordon Clanton
Stay home. A recent Field poll found that one in four California voters say they pay little attention to news about government and politics. About 40 percent follow political news “Most of the time.” About one-third said, “Some of the time.” About one-fourth said, “Only now and then” or “Hardly at all” or “Wha’?” This number is up from 20 percent in 1999, 16 percent in 1979. A grim trend.
Voters who see themselves as independents were the least likely to pay attention to political news. We can only hope that the least well informed are also the least likely to vote.
Sometimes when I see those well-meaning non-partisan public service announcements urging everyone to vote, I find myself musing, “No. No. If you don’t know what’s going on here, please stay home, and let those of us who have done our homework settle this thing among ourselves.”
Demografix. A recent survey by the right-leaning Reason Foundation brings bad news for Republicans. The poll found that the millennial generation (born after 1980) is racially diverse, socially tolerant, pro-pot, and supportive of same-sex marriage. Three-fourths want the government to guarantee food and housing to all Americans. Similarly, a recent Pew survey found that almost 60 percent of Americans under 30 believe the government should do more to solve the problems facing the country, while majorities in all other age groups said government should do less.
Pick six. Although I never saw their solicitors around here, a statewide initiative campaign that would split California into six states recently submitted 1.3 million signatures to Sacramento. If 808,000 signatures are valid, the matter may appear on the 2016 ballot. Late-night TV comics everywhere rejoice.
The proposed gerrymander, funded by one rich guy from Silly-Con Valley, is a transparent attempt to weaken Democratic influence in state government and in California’s Congressional delegation – and to create business-friendly zones, free from all those pesky taxes, environmental constraints, and workplace regulations from Sacramento.
Here is a Swiftean alternative: Let’s simply declare that each of California’s 58 counties is now a state. State government, as we know it, would be abolished, with huge financial savings. Each county seat becomes a state capital. Each county jail becomes a state prison. Each sheriff becomes chief of the state police. A cousin of the sheriff becomes head of the DMV. And California gets 116 US senators . . .
Gordon Clanton teaches Sociology at San Diego State University and writes about San Diego-area politics. He welcomes comments at gclanton@mail.sdsu.edu.
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I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, very depressing either way. I rather thought that with so much info available, due to internet, people would be much more informed, even though there is so much bad information. I love how it’s so easy to check facts, look through archives, look at how our Congress votes on issues, etc. I suppose most people just stick to what their ideological beliefs are & don’t venture beyond.
I totally agree that the uninformed should not vote. Here’s what I wrote in October, 2012:
It is generally accepted that the liberal thing to do is to encourage as much participation in the voting process as possible. I am actually against universal suffrage. Allowing all citizens to register – at motor vehicle offices, outside of grocery stores and wherever – actually weakens the democratic process.
Although I am a social liberal – to the point of being a raging radical – I do NOT support the idea of making voting so simple that everyone can do it. Voting needs to be more important than that. Voting needs to be so VITAL that everyone will WANT to do it – no matter how difficult it may be. I much prefer a system where people would first prove their worthiness to vote by performing some type of public service. Just like the idea that children should be given chores to do for their allowance, rather than just receive the dough with no responsibilities, I think that voting is a privilege of Democracy that needs to be earned rather than merely conferred.
Thomas Jefferson, my personal favorite of the founding fathers, wrote that the basis of a strong democracy is an informed electorate – the operative word here being informed.
Too many people who are blinded by “their right” to vote seek to exercise the franchise without the corresponding responsibility. Unfortunately, citizens are not required to demonstrate any knowledge of issues or even know who is running in order to vote. Constituents who are not familiar with the issues and candidates actually do a disservice and harm the democratic process by voting. America has enough serious trouble without having uninformed voters making choices for the future of our contry. Those who insist on voting without knowing what they’re voting about are actually part of the problem with our system. These are the people that are swayed by the mis-information, outright dis-information, speechifying and sound bites that form political campaigns in our time. I think it’s perfectly OK to not be into politics – BUT, if a person is not familiar with the issues and candidates, s/he should not vote.
The great philosopher and anti-war crusader Bertrand Russell wrote, “The problem with the world is that the stupid are cock-sure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”
A likely consequence of limiting voting rights to those who earn it is that the quality of political advertising will rise tremendously.
Voting has become more of a nuisance than a privilege; something left to the last minute by a large percentage of the population – those who even bother to vote at all, that is. And that percentage is continually one of the smallest in the world of democratic nations: only 56.8% of voting-age population in the presidential election of November 2008.