How can we improve civic engagement? The answer to this question is perhaps much simpler for some than others, because the truth is there are endless possibilities as to how to improve the political process. Collectively throughout the semester, we have learned that no matter how sound a political argument may be there is a good chance that the opposite side’s argument may be just as well formulated and just as valid. On the other hand, both arguments may sometimes be rooted in nothing but fear or misconceptions.
Pinnacle to the act of civic engagement is the act that we consider to be sacred, the act of voting. Our right to vote is something that this country has seen people die for time and time again. The ability to cast a vote, no matter how small the position is, has been an integral part of our social norm for over 200 years. People have made their careers on the elections, being able to predict them, to win them, to destroy them for someone, American’s take for granted this civic duty in many ways. The best example of how precious and important this process can be was the documentary Please Vote for Me, which centers on the democratic process’ application among 8 year-olds.
This film showed how effective certain parts of the process can be, as well as some of the democratic processes flaws. It’s amazing how the honesty of children can show the dishonesty of a practice that many of us have never chosen to view as corrupt. The entire election process is heavily scrutinized throughout the film, from polling to how people base their actual decisions on. When we are able to see an election on a smaller scale, it’s easier to realize how what works and what needs fine tuning, not only with elections, but how we approach them and how we prepare our citizens to participate in them.
During our discussion involving The Center for Public Deliberation saw one predominant ideal brought to the conversation consistently. Education at an early age was suggested by practically every group. Do we educate, truly educate, citizens about the repercussions our votes have, and how responsible participation is the best way to improving civic involvement. Much like in the above mentioned film, schools across the country should have children begin to participate in the democratic process at an earlier age than the common high-school class elections.
We saw in the film, how ruthless the children could become, resorting to name calling and accusing their opponents of false acts. This seems childish and wrong, but the truth is, we see this in elections every day. We see attack ads that accuse candidates of horrible acts, we see candidates resort to name calling, though perhaps not a blatant. What seemed to be child’s play among the Chinese children of the film illustrated our own democracy’s flaws.
We saw the film address debates, although in the film the debates we unstructured. The candidates were given ample time to state why they would be effective class leaders, but resorted to bickering and name calling eventually, the so-called “mudslinging” that candidates swear to avoid. We’ve all seen it before, the older politicians get, the more effective they are in making the mudslinging appealing.
Perhaps the worst part of the debate is that the moderator, the so-called liaison between the public and the politicians is the one who initiates the mud-slinging. Again, this is not as blatant as children calling the other fat and lazy, but its sophisticated enough to wear the public doesn’t see it as mudslinging.
Attack ads are another form of the political process that is deemed immoral and in poor taste yet we allow them to take place constantly. Again, the children of the movie display how attack ads can be detrimental in many ways. The children rally their classmates to chant horrible things about one another in order to garner support and create decent among the class. These scare tactics they use are often meant to completely disengage a public in a person’s campaign.
Yes, because electing anyone other than LBJ would definitely result in nuclear holocaust. Now this seems ridiculous to us, but at the time the country greatly feared the impending results of the arms race with the Soviet Union.
How can we avoid these practices, and vote as responsible and informed citizens? We need to educate children from an early age. Although the democratic process the film engages in may seem messy and disorganized, but it teaches us a lesson in children’s concepts of democracy. If we encourage children to learn about this process past the lowly American Government classes in high-school, we can give children the critical thinking to skills that will allow them to not fall victim to the political system as they get older.
By educating the younger generations, we also will enhance their “Bull-shit” meters that many of my classmates would agree anytime the 24 hour news channels find their way into the national dialogue. The pundit happy networks allow commentary and opinion the blindly cover fact and common sense to the point where people find themselves believing something is “fair and balanced” when in-fact the news stories are as bias as they come. It’s extremely important to give children the tools to engage responsibly and have an opinion that’s based in fact and logic, as opposed to allowing fear mongering aristocrats to control the national dialogue as they see fit.
It has been proven that early education regarding language has worked with children from a young age. Why wouldn’t civic engagement courses and as well as media literacy courses work as well as the early education programs used at the elementary level already? In Thomas Hollihan’s Uncivil War: Political Campaigns in a Media Age the author states “low rates of voting and political participation by young people suggest that civics education is not meeting its goal of increasing political interest and efficacy” (Hollihan 61). Hollihan later states that “schools are important to the political socialization process… Students learn through interpersonal communication when interacting with teachers… students also interact with peers, who’s values they generally mirror” (Hollihan 64).
If we continue to ignore education as a real and permanent solution to our country’s civic engagement issues, then we will never see the youth of America reach their full civic potential. By implanting programs that encourage civic participation in a responsible and educated manner, we can further develop civic engagement into the fair practice we all want and hope it to be. Beyond that, the responsibility to implement these programs falls on the voters of today and their willingness to understand the system’s imperfections. By addressing these flaws, citizens will be better equipped to participate and contribute to the National dialogue.
