May 5, 1997

Democracy requires participants

Matt Pitcher

rust in government has declined. Twenty-five years ago, three quarters of the public said they had confidence in government; today, a quarter do.

But, is this really a problem?

One view says people should mistrust government. After all, we were founded with a mistrust of government. The American Constitution was deliberately set up in such a way that King George could never rule over us again. Some might add, "Nor anyone else."

Trust must be earned. We must be highly skeptical of our government. That's why we have a free press and an independent judiciary. But we destroy ourselves when our healthy skepticism becomes deadly cynicism. The question is not about trust, then, it's about the confidence we have in our system's ability to allow progressive change.

It has become fashionable in our society to dismiss all politicians as crooked or corrupt. That's why we saw record lows in voter turnout in 1996. The very groups who need government the most usually don't vote because they think their vote doesn't count.

However we feel about politics, the arena of government is where significant decisions will be made which will affect all our destinies. That's why political participation is so essential, whereas political apathy is so destructive.

Ours is a system in which vigilant citizens must jealously guard their liberties against encroachment by people with hidden agendas. For liberty is self-government; it is something found not in private life, but in public action.

So why must citizens be vigilant? Because as soon as they become complacent about the goings-on of the government and indifferent about public affairs and political issues, someone else will gladly step in and decide their fate for them. Thus, the greatest enemies of free government are complacent and apathetic citizens. The greatest danger a republic faces is that it will be destroyed from within by corruption. If citizens neither enjoy nor exercise their essential liberties no republic can long survive.

Some of us use the word politics as an expletive. Suppose you've just seen a particularly vicious negative political advertisement on TV, where one candidate challenged the honesty or parentage of the opposing candidate. You would not be alone if you dismissed the ad by saying, "That's just politics." Many of us use the phrase "that's just politics" to express our displeasure with everything we see wrong with our system.

We get disgusted with special legislation that gives expatriated Americans a $3.6 billion tax windfall. We dislike seeing officials get favorable treatment from regulatory agencies for contributors with deep pockets. We disapprove of members of Congress saying one thing and voting for another (such as supporting term limits but not retroactively). And we tend to condemn these activities with a disgusted "That's just politics!"

It may be "just politics," but once you learn the ropes, you can have an impact on politics. You can find out how candidates stand on issues important to you. You can make elected officials listen to your concerns and those of your neighbors.

Politics is more than just what is wrong with our system. Politics is our system. It determines who wins and who loses when governments make decisions. It determines if our tomorrows will be better than our yesterdays. Here's just a sample of the many things that politics determines:

• Who wins and who loses when groups compete for resources
• Who pays taxes, how much and what kind
• Whether a landfill opens near your neighborhood despite your concerns about having potentially toxic waste close to where kids play
• Where the next war will be fought, and who will die in it
• Interest rates on college loans and house mortgages

From the sublime to the extremely serious, politics is everywhere!

However we define it, politics is the glue keeping our entire society together. We can refuse to participate in the process by not registering or voting, but the process will still affect us and our families every day of our lives, in ways we know and in ways we cannot possibly imagine. So we may as well find out enough about politics to understand what is really happening. Once we understand politics, we can act to improve our position in those decisions that have an impact on us, our families, and our communities. We can make the system work for us.

As Americans, we have a unique responsibility to answer the question put forth by Thomas Jefferson nearly two centuries ago: "Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer that question." It is up to us, the living.

In the final analysis, what happens to our world depends on what we do with what others have left us. Some were executed for ideas that we, unfortunately, take for granted now. They paved the way for us to express ourselves freely, both commercially and publicly.

We cannot refuse to vote and participate in politics and then complain that politics is corrupt or unresponsive. If good people refuse to involve themselves in politics, who does that leave? Edmund Burke once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." No matter how tough a task reforming politics looks to be, the longest and toughest journey begins with a single step.

It should be our conviction that the definition of citizenship in a democracy is participation and that, as Francis Bacon wrote, it is "left only to God and to the angels to be lookers on."

Matt Pitcher is a senior political science and journalism major.

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