An Unfortunate Comment
While making yet another half attempt to study today (just a few weeks of a long, arduous, and often times mind-numbing nineteen years of forced learning remain for me – “forced” only because roughly half of the subject matter I have ever been faced with seemed uninteresting and trivial to me), I encountered two young adults having an altogether normal, albeit misinformed conversation, relating mostly to their plans for the future. Slightly perturbed, only because of their vicinity and volume in relation to my makeshift place of study, I attempted to ignore them. Unfortunately, I overheard one of them make the comment “I hate republicans more than I hate the democrats.” Had I been more inclined to make a decent attempt at continuing my studies, I would have put in a pair of headphones. However, as election day was just a few weeks ago (and it was a crucial one), I instead chose to continue listening. The entire conversation isn’t worth repeating but it consisted of the typical college students concerns and musings such as recapping the past weekends parties, plans after graduation, and of course, this weekends parties. College students right? It would probably be easier, and assuredly less time-consuming, to simply leave it at that. My inclination to read too much into things in this case forces me to do the opposite and recount just why exactly, this comment had such an impact on me. Why would someone (roughly) my age make this comment? I could understand why someone would identify with one party or another, but not why they would imply that they hate both dominant parties, one more so than the other. The troubling part for me is the choice to use the word hate. “Could this person be a libertarian?” I asked myself. Although possible, it is evident in the general lack of knowledge or care among young men and women in regards to politics, that the answer is likely no. This brings to light the well-known and potentially damaging fact that young people are often misguided, misinformed, and generally apathetic when it comes to anything other that their immediate and personal concerns. Just what exactly has caused this evades my knowledge but I believe I am prepared to make a few general observations. First, the sense of security many Americans experience due to their steadfast and loyal support (both understandably and admirably) of their beloved country. I couldn’t begin to describe here all of the reasons that national pride is a boon for all American citizens, however, I do believe it has one adverse effect. Trust. Now you are probably saying to yourself something understandably questioning and hesitant so let me explain. Trust is by all accounts an admired and extremely important virtue, so how could it possible have any sort of adverse effect on our political climate? Too much trust results in lack of involvement, lengthy tenure, and a lack of fresh perspective. It can easily be argued that due to a lack of involvement from its citizens (the general population), the American government has attained a power previously unknown in this country. A general expansion of governmental power over the economy dating back to the days of FDR has led to increased government involvement and control over the daily transactions that allow Americans to buy houses, loan money, feed and cloth their families, and generally go about their daily concerns. As evidenced by the swift and abrupt change in the makeup in the House of Representatives, from predominately democratic to largely republican, perhaps most Americans have become tired enough by this interference to do something about it. Did years of complacency lead us to a point at which frustration would become a critical motivating factor in many American’s decisions to involve themselves in the selection of our representatives? Second, the long-developed and likely undeserved sense of entitlement so many Americans feel (especially those of younger generations). Although I have seen many unfortunate, despicable, and tragic things occur in my lifetime (the tsunami of 2004, the terrorist attacks of 2001, Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf War, the worse economic crash since the Great Depression), I can never remember a time when as a whole, the American people felt as venerable as they do now. Lets face it, the last few years have been characterized by a great deal of adversity for the United States and its people. Maybe part of the reason Americans didn’t find much reason or value in taking an active role in the administration of our government (young people especially) can be attributed to the fact that frankly, its been a long time since we’ve been reminded that in order to continue being able to say that America is the greatest country on Earth, we have to make an effort to keep it that way. Admittedly, it is difficult to find unbiased publication of our governmental proceedings amongst the convoluted mess which our broadcast media has become – honestly, can you think of a specific station or paper that doesn’t focus most of its attention on extremist viewpoints and radical political opinion? It makes better news doesn’t it?
I guess my point here is this: As a country, the United States is in a bit of turmoil at the moment. Jobs are tough to find (even for college graduates), prices are fluctuating everywhere, the unemployment percentage is horrible, Americans are finding it tough to support the current president and his decisions, and to top it all off, the general population still doesn’t believe their vote matters in an election. Either we can choose to believe that everything will be okay – someone else will fix the problems, after all, we are the United States right? – or we (young people) can realize that living in the greatest, and most successful, democratic society in recorded history is a privilege, not a right.
After all, if you could trace every penny you paid in taxes to its end expenditure, that is where it is being spent and for what, you might be a little more concerned and perhaps even a little more involved, wouldn’t you?
trehvoro 