Should People be Informed Voters?
Democracy is translated from Greek as a power of people. Democracy
is a one of the biggest achievements of modern civilization
and voting is the main democratic mechanism. Through voting
people are able to demonstrate their will and express their
wishes. Election is a system of regulations, which permits
to fulfill the will of majority and thus the will of people.
That is the reason serious attitude to voting is so important.
People should be aware that their active and conscious position
during voting defines their future. Unfortunately, very often
voters do not have their own opinion and follow the majority
or some authority figures. In the article “Another Example
of Why Voters Should Keep Informed and Be Responsible”
the author gives very vivid examples of how ignorance of the
voters can have very poor consequences. The article tells
about congressman Keith Elliso, who had close ties with Islamic
fundamentalists and became messed up in unlawful actions.
The author stresses on the facts that only ignorance of voters
helped this man to get a seat in the Congress. As states the
author: “Maybe the Democratic Party should start doing
background checks on their members before accepting them.
And, positively, American voters, like in Minnesota, should
check out their candidates they intend to vote for”
(Lehman). I think that such an example speaks for thousand
abstract words about the necessity of active civil position.
Only after voters will see poor consequences of their ignorance
they will start to think about the consequences of their actions
and importance of their choices. Lehman’s words are
sharp, but they really reflect resent situation. “Now
we have a spokesperson for Islamic fundamentalists sitting
not only in the House of Representatives but on a committee
that oversees our judiciary, and for obvious reasons, wants
our law enforcement and national security system to quit using
racial profiling in their efforts to keep law and order and
protect our national security.” The author of the article
gives some other bright and vivid examples of how people with
unclear consciousness get to power due to inattentive or indifferent
position of the voters. Unfortunately, the situation described
in the article is rather typical than exceptional. Most voters
make their choices without a detailed study of information.
They lose their active civil position and become object of
manipulations of skillful PR services. Such situation is common
for contemporary society. People are preoccupied with everyday
problems and forget that they have right and power to make
important decision about the future of their country. Passive
political and social position is very profitable for politicians,
who use power in order to satisfy their ambitions. They give
loud promises and people believe them making no attempt to
spend some time and effort and check up information they get
during election campaigns. Ability to make conscious decision
is one of peculiar characteristics, which differs humans from
other animals. Neglecting this ability, people lose their
prerogative of humanness and humiliate themselves.
Alvarez, R. M., Brehm, J. 2002. Hard Choices, Easy Answers:
Values, Information, and American Public Opinion. New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.
Althaus, S. L. 2003. Collective Preferences in Democratic
Politics: Opinion Surveys and the Will of the People. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Lehman A. K. Another Example of Why Voters Should Keep Informed
and Be Responsible
Jan 24th, 2007. URL < http://lighthousepatriotjournal.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/another-example-of-why-voters-should-keep-informed-and-be-responsible/>