Citizens and Politics Many Citizens

Citizens and Politics

Many citizens today are not interested in politics and public policy because they see that nothing really changes. It does not seem to matter who gets elected, democratic or republican, the basic status quo is preserved (Schmidt, et al., 2011). The rich continue to get richer, and the poor continue to struggle. Taxes and prices for everything rise, and the economy struggles because the national debt is growing and the "little guy" does not have enough to pay his or her workers a good, living wage. Politicians also seem to have a hard time keeping their promises. They say that they will do something if elected, but once they are elected they do nothing - or they reverse what they originally said. Part of the problem comes from the fact that the political system is very broken (Losco, 2010; Schmidt, et al., 2011). The president does not have that much power, and it is relatively easy for Congress to derail whatever the president has planned. So much arguing and infighting in politics has simply soured the American people when it comes to getting involved in any kind of policy-making or political issues.

It would be nice if politicians paid attention to citizen engagement, but the reality of it is that they are not that concerned about how engaged the citizens are. They need enough citizen engagement and involvement to get the required number of votes to win. Beyond that, they focus on their special interests and the campaign promises that they actually meant - not the ones they only said in order to get elected. As far as the American people are concerned, however, citizen engagement is something to be aware of. There is a reason that many people are not paying attention to politics (Losco, 2010). However, if they believed that they really could affect change they would be more likely to get involved and focus on what they could do to help needed changes take place. As long as the status quo is there, and as long as it seems like something that they cannot change, why should any citizen get involved? It is a losing proposition.

As a nation, the level of interest and participation is relatively low. A large number of Americans are registered to vote, but most of them do not bother to show up on election day (Schmidt, et al., 2011). Instead, they just avoid voting altogether, because they feel as though their vote will not matter. To increase the national level of participation and interest when it comes up to politics and public policy, changes will have to be made to the existing system that will get people excited about politics again. If they do not feel they can really make a difference and help changes things for the better, what incentive do they have to do anything related to politics? If the public policies will not be changed to help those who are really struggling, what reason is there to get involved and expend that energy that could be used for something else? People built this county, but many feel it has been taken over by a select few. Unless they see a real way to get it back, they are not going to put in the effort.