Almost by definition, independent Americans are not that engaged with politics and would rather talk about anything other than elections and the two parties.
Part of the problem is the team approach to politics. I don't really like everyone either on the Red Team or the Blue Team. Both teams have good ideas. And there are some politicians worth voting for on both teams. But this sort of idea is anathema to people playing the team game. It doesn't just bore me, it upsets me.
Apathetic independent voter here in Texas. I do LOTS of work on reforming our system and educating myself on what I see as the most important policy issues. Yet off the top of my head, there is no candidate on my ballot I am excited to vote FOR. There are several (from both parties) I will vote AGAINST. I WILL vote, though not til Tuesday given my lack of enthusiasm.
My biggest issue every election cycle is that neither party appears to either understand or care about the Constitution. Agenda is everything. The parties share one common goal, and that is power: how to aquire, maintain, and expand it. Everything else is secondary. Almost always pointing the finger and telling us how bad the other side is without telling us how they are better and why we should vote FOR them and not the other guy. I see both parties as a cancer on our society. From a George Washington meme: "Me and my homies woulda been stackin' bodies by now".
The idea that lack of “enthusiasm” implies less likelihood to vote in competitive elections is pretty funny. I am not enthusiastic about taking out the trash, but I do it whenever it needs to be done.
There is a general sense in most political analysis that independents are less interested, less informed, etc. compared to partisans. In my experience, this is backwards. Most partisans that I know use their partisanship as an excuse to turn off their critical brains. They will absorb extensive propaganda from their party without questioning it, dismiss any arguments made by the other party, and do very little analysis of their own that goes beyond seeking info from biased sources in order to confirm their biases. Naturally, they will claim to be “informed” and “following closely”.
Of course some independent voters really just don’t care. But the real danger to democracy comes from the majority of partisans who have been taught - by partisan elites, naturally - that blindly voting for their faction is virtuous behavior.
Without genuine open-mindedness - which means a commitment to using reason to seek truth, which in turn implies a willingness to entertain opposing arguments and hence admit that one could be wrong - politics devolves into tribal blood-sport, where all that matters is turning out your tribe to vote for your beatified candidates while suppressing the opposing tribe so that they don’t vote for their demonized candidates. It turns out that Allan Bloom was onto something when he wrote “The Closing of the American Mind” nearly 40 years ago.
I would be interested to see the actual data. How is “interest” defined? And “informed”?
Further, even if the measures are solid, beyond a certain threshold, is being “more interested” and “more informed” necessarily better? At what point do interest and information-seeking turn into obsession and lack of perspective ? There is an implicit assumption in the way such data are discussed that more interest and more information are necessarily better. But perhaps those of us who tune out and shift our interests to other matters once we have enough information to make up our minds aren’t “apathetic”. We may simply have balanced lives ;-)
Or maybe uniformed voters who have little idea what the parties are actually up to or how government works are voting in a blind and incoherent fashion making the country virtually ungovernable...
I'm sympathetic to the overall idea that voters casting negative votes constantly until both or either party realizes that some other approach is needed.
But once you see that historically voting for the far right puts voting itself in danger I have to be more skeptical.
Were German voters right to vote for Hitler because of persistent inflation?
We also know that historically the far left has been more interested in battling the center left than in defending democracy and that oligarchs' support for democracy is paper thin.
The center right and far left were Hitler's enablers.
Closer to home and contemporary, we can see Brazil's election and how coupism is normalized.
All over the world (small l) liberal democracies are backsliding on respect for electoral outcomes, for judicial independence and the rule of law, pluralism and freedom of speech, as well as corruption.
Meanwhile voters mostly care about the short term rise of products that is mostly the result of misguided Western relience on gas and oil produced worldwide by autocracies.
We have weakened and captured democracies in the process of being hollowed out. It shouldn't take voters a lot of effort to understand the actual macroeconomic forces causing inflation, but they will never find out by looking at short form videos curated by oligarchs.
I'll be even more blunt than you about people's air-headedness about matters of societal substance.
I consider this website and some other political commentaries to be "substantive." I also get the impression that altogether they would be fortunate to have more than, say, 300,000 followers.
In contrast, I did an AI search of the number of followers of online "influencers." There are dozens whose followership exceeds 100 million. Although that is worldwide, and not all are "independents," I think it is a sad commentary on the sort of fluff (much of it devoted to advertising non-essential consumer products) that preoccupies many people's attention.
Your comments on your website are to the effect that Trump and his acolytes are authoritarians who disrespect the U.S. Constitution. I agree with that. But then you display your pro-Democrat bias by claiming that they are different and therefore "better."
The way that I see it is that the Democrats only differ on the issues on which they are willing to disregard Constitutional principles to advance leftist ideological agendas -- particularly regarding "anti-racist" preferential treatment of people claiming that whatever that they don't like about their status in American society is the result of "systemic oppression."
Pardon me for suspecting that your efforts to promote voting are heavily directed towards people likely to vote Democratic. My own efforts are directed towards people likely to vote for genuine centrists who reject the extreme positions of both major parties.
"Almost by definition, independent Americans are not that engaged with politics..."
I disagree. Almost by definition, independent Americans are disgusted and dismayed with politics, not disengaged from politics.
What we care about is governance. What we abhor is the degree to which politics interferes with that. That is a form of "engagement", if a wholly negative one...
I see your point. Mine is that for many independents politics = partisanship so they are naturally less engaged with the warring propaganda efforts of the two parties every two years. And they certainly are disgusted and dismayed! Cheers
At the federal level my top issues are tackling our debt and ending deficit spending for the long term and lowering the COST/prices of health care. Neither Senate candidate has those as top issues or has articulated how to solve the issues systemically. My House rep is a heavily gerrymandered Dem who has become very establishment. At the local level, I want restrained spending to allow a lesser tax burden. Instead, my county government just passed the largest tax increase this century so they can continue American Rescue Plan/pandemic level spending, yet Dems will sweep it. Hence my apathy.
Part of the problem is the team approach to politics. I don't really like everyone either on the Red Team or the Blue Team. Both teams have good ideas. And there are some politicians worth voting for on both teams. But this sort of idea is anathema to people playing the team game. It doesn't just bore me, it upsets me.
As it should!
Apathetic independent voter here in Texas. I do LOTS of work on reforming our system and educating myself on what I see as the most important policy issues. Yet off the top of my head, there is no candidate on my ballot I am excited to vote FOR. There are several (from both parties) I will vote AGAINST. I WILL vote, though not til Tuesday given my lack of enthusiasm.
Independents are at best deciding on the lesser of two evils in a competitive race. It’s kind of hard to be “very enthusiastic” about that.
My biggest issue every election cycle is that neither party appears to either understand or care about the Constitution. Agenda is everything. The parties share one common goal, and that is power: how to aquire, maintain, and expand it. Everything else is secondary. Almost always pointing the finger and telling us how bad the other side is without telling us how they are better and why we should vote FOR them and not the other guy. I see both parties as a cancer on our society. From a George Washington meme: "Me and my homies woulda been stackin' bodies by now".
The idea that lack of “enthusiasm” implies less likelihood to vote in competitive elections is pretty funny. I am not enthusiastic about taking out the trash, but I do it whenever it needs to be done.
There is a general sense in most political analysis that independents are less interested, less informed, etc. compared to partisans. In my experience, this is backwards. Most partisans that I know use their partisanship as an excuse to turn off their critical brains. They will absorb extensive propaganda from their party without questioning it, dismiss any arguments made by the other party, and do very little analysis of their own that goes beyond seeking info from biased sources in order to confirm their biases. Naturally, they will claim to be “informed” and “following closely”.
Of course some independent voters really just don’t care. But the real danger to democracy comes from the majority of partisans who have been taught - by partisan elites, naturally - that blindly voting for their faction is virtuous behavior.
Good points. Open-mindedness and patriotism are underrated as political virtues! Better than blind partisanship for sure.
Without genuine open-mindedness - which means a commitment to using reason to seek truth, which in turn implies a willingness to entertain opposing arguments and hence admit that one could be wrong - politics devolves into tribal blood-sport, where all that matters is turning out your tribe to vote for your beatified candidates while suppressing the opposing tribe so that they don’t vote for their demonized candidates. It turns out that Allan Bloom was onto something when he wrote “The Closing of the American Mind” nearly 40 years ago.
But doesn't the data actually show that "independents are less interested, less informed, etc. compared to partisans"?
I would be interested to see the actual data. How is “interest” defined? And “informed”?
Further, even if the measures are solid, beyond a certain threshold, is being “more interested” and “more informed” necessarily better? At what point do interest and information-seeking turn into obsession and lack of perspective ? There is an implicit assumption in the way such data are discussed that more interest and more information are necessarily better. But perhaps those of us who tune out and shift our interests to other matters once we have enough information to make up our minds aren’t “apathetic”. We may simply have balanced lives ;-)
Or maybe uniformed voters who have little idea what the parties are actually up to or how government works are voting in a blind and incoherent fashion making the country virtually ungovernable...
I'm sympathetic to the overall idea that voters casting negative votes constantly until both or either party realizes that some other approach is needed.
But once you see that historically voting for the far right puts voting itself in danger I have to be more skeptical.
Were German voters right to vote for Hitler because of persistent inflation?
We also know that historically the far left has been more interested in battling the center left than in defending democracy and that oligarchs' support for democracy is paper thin.
The center right and far left were Hitler's enablers.
Closer to home and contemporary, we can see Brazil's election and how coupism is normalized.
All over the world (small l) liberal democracies are backsliding on respect for electoral outcomes, for judicial independence and the rule of law, pluralism and freedom of speech, as well as corruption.
Meanwhile voters mostly care about the short term rise of products that is mostly the result of misguided Western relience on gas and oil produced worldwide by autocracies.
We have weakened and captured democracies in the process of being hollowed out. It shouldn't take voters a lot of effort to understand the actual macroeconomic forces causing inflation, but they will never find out by looking at short form videos curated by oligarchs.
I'll be even more blunt than you about people's air-headedness about matters of societal substance.
I consider this website and some other political commentaries to be "substantive." I also get the impression that altogether they would be fortunate to have more than, say, 300,000 followers.
In contrast, I did an AI search of the number of followers of online "influencers." There are dozens whose followership exceeds 100 million. Although that is worldwide, and not all are "independents," I think it is a sad commentary on the sort of fluff (much of it devoted to advertising non-essential consumer products) that preoccupies many people's attention.
PEOPLE DO NEED ENCOURAGEMENT— YOU CAN HELP SOMEONE VOTE!
Every new or inexperienced voter has six questions that need answers. Can you help them find the answers? Lots of help here!
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/one-week-to-go-you-can-help-someone
Your comments on your website are to the effect that Trump and his acolytes are authoritarians who disrespect the U.S. Constitution. I agree with that. But then you display your pro-Democrat bias by claiming that they are different and therefore "better."
The way that I see it is that the Democrats only differ on the issues on which they are willing to disregard Constitutional principles to advance leftist ideological agendas -- particularly regarding "anti-racist" preferential treatment of people claiming that whatever that they don't like about their status in American society is the result of "systemic oppression."
Pardon me for suspecting that your efforts to promote voting are heavily directed towards people likely to vote Democratic. My own efforts are directed towards people likely to vote for genuine centrists who reject the extreme positions of both major parties.
You began today's piece by saying,
"Almost by definition, independent Americans are not that engaged with politics..."
I disagree. Almost by definition, independent Americans are disgusted and dismayed with politics, not disengaged from politics.
What we care about is governance. What we abhor is the degree to which politics interferes with that. That is a form of "engagement", if a wholly negative one...
-apl
I see your point. Mine is that for many independents politics = partisanship so they are naturally less engaged with the warring propaganda efforts of the two parties every two years. And they certainly are disgusted and dismayed! Cheers
Staggering when people say they are meh about this election.
At the federal level my top issues are tackling our debt and ending deficit spending for the long term and lowering the COST/prices of health care. Neither Senate candidate has those as top issues or has articulated how to solve the issues systemically. My House rep is a heavily gerrymandered Dem who has become very establishment. At the local level, I want restrained spending to allow a lesser tax burden. Instead, my county government just passed the largest tax increase this century so they can continue American Rescue Plan/pandemic level spending, yet Dems will sweep it. Hence my apathy.