By Abigail Turner

How many branches of government does the United States have? How many years does a member of the United States congress serve? How many senators are there? In the 1960’s, just 27 percent of adults could answer my first question, 30 percent could answer my second, and even worse, just a few years ago, only 20 percent of adults could answer my third. Let me ask an even simpler question. Can you name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed in the first amendment? Only one in four Americans can.

Last year in Mr. Seeley’s ADV lit class, I read Just How Stupid Are We by Rick Shenkman for my individual reading project. The ideas I learned from this project inspired the steps that Bailey Medley and I have taken to politically inform the Cary Academy community and help register our classmates to vote; we hope that  we’ve begun to solve the problem of political ignorance.

Shenkman poses the question of whether the American voter is capable of shouldering the responsibility to run this nation. His thesis is the idea that voters are not held accountable for the issues that lie within the cowardice to question their mistakes, rather than the issues that lie within politics. I couldn’t agree with Shenkman more, as I truly believe Americans don’t take the time necessary to research candidates, educate themselves on topical issues, and formulate their own opinions.

One major influence that Shenkman points out is the media. Think about it – most of what you know about current events has come from the television, the radio, or news articles online. Shenkman says that there’s one thing to be said about television and politics, “they were made for each other” (82). The issue with this is that every news source has their own opinions and biases, thus they have the power to lead their viewers to believe whatever they want. Sadly, media sources know all too well that people are too lazy to read articles or buy newspapers; instead, people are just going to turn on the TV and listen to whatever the news tells them. As a result of this power, the media plays a critical role in forming the public’s opinion. Granted, not all Americans are politically ignorant and not all people vote based on the media, but somehow only one in four Americans can name one of the five freedoms listed in the first amendment. Additionally, polling greatly influences politics because the parties underscore issues that the public appears to care about. It doesn’t matter what the public desires; the parties will give them anything to increase their appeal.

These factors have led me to believe the problem lies within the system. The people vote based on what they hear on TV, and what the people hear on TV comes from the parties, and the parties tell the media to publish what they think the people want to hear. So who’s running the show? Is it the people, the parties, the news sources? Surprisingly, I believe that it is the people who hold the most power. Their desires shape the candidates, their polling responses shape what the candidates are forced to care about, their votes shape which party is in power, and rightfully so. The people should hold the most power in theory; after all, America is a democracy. Except what happened to the three out of four people who couldn’t name freedom of speech, religion, petition, assembly, and religion? Can we really believe that those people voted for the right candidate on Election Day?

Based on this alone, America’s prospects may seem grim, but I assure you otherwise. The key to breaking the cycle is simple. Educating Americans on the basic principles of politics needs to be prioritized, along with informing voters of candidate’s platforms, rather than scandals. News sources in today’s society tend to be biased, causing readers to believe their left or right leaning values. If people took the time to read a liberal and a conservative news source each day, their political knowledge would grow as well as their ability to formulate their own opinions. Americans have the utmost privilege of being able to possess diverse opinions and speak their minds, yet most don’t utilize this power. If we, as a country, can find a way to educate ourselves on the issues that truly matter, form our own viewpoints, and vote accordingly, there’s no limit to what we can accomplish. Bailey and I hope that through our efforts, the Cary Academy community has learned more about the civic process and that students have been instilled with the desire to be involved and participate for a lifetime.

Works Cited

Shenkman, Rick. Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth about the American Voter. New York: Basic, 2008. Print.