No, Apathy is not some new-age fragrance! It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion.
Simply Put, the common US citizen has become either too busy or too lazy to be consciously involved in the political direction of our country. Those of us that are too busy are preoccupied with chasing shadows of what was know as the "American Dream" Life.
"The real owners of this country know the truth, and it's called the American Dream because you've got to be asleep to believe it." ~ George Carlin - November 2005
Those of us that are too lazy are preoccupied with escaping the realities of responsibility through unproductive distractions, like playing video games for hours on end, partying with friends and (not that any of this isn't fun or healthy, but without balance, it's just unproductive). Generally people in this category are probably more passive than lazy and have bought into the concept of waiting to be told what to do next and how to do it.
Go ahead, ask around your social circle and see what people "really" know about current events. They will talk about professional sports standings, publicized tragedies/deaths, Reality TV happenings, celebrity gossip and maybe the latest viral videos on YouTube
When asked their opinions about political happenings, you will most likely get one of the following answers:
- I don't have time to understand/keep up with Politics
- Well, I (like/don't like OR agree with/disagree with) XXXX, because (insert some shallow, spoon-fed response here that respondent heard from the media recently)
- All Politicians are crooked, so I just don't care.
Of the hundreds of people I've spoken with, most are simply frustrated with the quality of life in the United States, but feel that they are ""too busy" or aren't smart enough or politically minded enough to stay informed.
So, for those people, I'm going to teach you all you need to know about politics in the next paragraph:
(in common, private sector terms, that is :-)
- You hire a Manager (Politician) to do a job (Represent the People)
- You give the Manager a simple manual to follow (Amended US Constitution)
- If they don't follow the manual OR
- If they do anything that conflicts with the manual, or take unauthorized actions not listed in the manual as part of their regular authorized duties;
You DISMISS that Manager, then replace them with someone who knows how to follow instructions.
** Note - If, for any reason, the Company's Owners / Shareholders (United States Citizens) decided that they wanted to update the duties and descriptions outlined in the manual, the managers simply have to follow the rules established in the manual to do so. TA DAAAAAA!!!
Heck, your cell phone manual has more pages than that!
See, If you remove emotional opinions, and look at the US Constitution and it's amendments objectively, POLITICS ARE A LOT SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK. In fact, with very little knowledge and fanfare, I bet ANY reasonably intelligent, objective citizen can follow along and do the job PERFECTLY!