Essay about Cynicism of the American Political Process

Since 1972, youth voter turnout has been on the decline. According to the Child Trends Databank, 50 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 participated in the 1972 presidential election (2015). Nearly three decades later, the percentage of young adults aged 18 to 24 who voted in the 2000 presidential election had dropped eighteen

The advantages to the proportional representation system are numerous. More women would be represented, racial and ethnic minorities would not be overlooked, and issue-oriented campaigns would arise. Elections would become more exciting to the public because their voice and vote will make a difference. "Winner take all" will no longer exist. Americans

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

In her article, “Higher Youth Voter Turnout Could Change Election Outcome: Pollster,” Joan Bryden argues that political leaders do very little to engage youth in upcoming elections. Currently, political leaders are focus mostly on older voters who do vote, rather than younger voters who are looking for more change. By only focusing on those who do vote, politicians fail to see how younger voters are more keen on change occurring in their society. As a result, younger voters do not understand what politicians stand for during the election. Political leaders could do more to encourage youth voters by “adopting a more helpful, can-do manner,” through face-to-face interaction and mobile technology, discussing topics of concern such as affordable housing and education, finally, communicating a clear picture of what their party stands for.

Out of the United State’s hefty population of about 320 million people, only about 68 percent of its citizens meet the voting age requirement. On the other hand, recent voting statistics indicate that only 146 million people are registered to vote, and even fewer of them make it to the polls. As a registered voter, it’s imperative to educate yourself through comprehensive research about the candidates, their views, and how they intend to run the country. Additionally, many sources confirmed my preconceived candidate choices by asserting Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders as the top contenders due to our similar ideals. However, further research shows that for some issues, such as raising the minimum wage, Clinton’s plan of action proved too disadvantageous for my liking. For this reason, coupled with many others,

Since the United States of America established itself as its own self-governing country, one of the things that caused it to be salient and stand out from other countries is its relentless insistence on functioning as a democracy. Wars and protests have occurred so that every type of people, whether it was women or African Americans, may be granted the right to vote. Having a say in the American government is an honor and a privilege bestowed upon American citizens when they reach the age of eighteen. However, in recent years, statistics have shown that voter turnout and participation in recent elections has been rapidly and steadily declining, causing the United States to have the lowest voter participation in the world (“Is the System

“Young people are interested in politics, and do have faith in the democratic process. Nonetheless, the political system and the established parties and politicians that dominate it, are together failing to

Second, the young people in our society are not properly taught about politics and how the government works until they are in college. In high school I was required to take a government course which taught how the government works and what policies did. It was a very helpful course into how the government functioned. The people who don’t take this course or are well educated in politics don’t have a clue about what going on. One of the problems uneducated voters have is they don’t know who to vote for in the election. All high schools should require kids to take a course in which they are learning about how the government works or operates. This will educate people more in who to vote for and which candidates have the same morals as them. This past year, “38 percent of all young voters from ages 18-24 voted in the 2012 election” (Thom File). This is not a mid-term

There are several reasons as to why I chose this topic, because the young voices of America matter now a days. Young adults don’t realize that we are the next generation for the United States. Throughout my survey I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of young adults that aren’t registered to vote but they have a political view whether it be Democrat, Republican, or a Liberal. But they don’t see the purpose of being registered to vote because they aren’t really informed on what is going on in the society because it isn’t interesting for them at the time but what they fail to come to realize is that when they began to retire at an older age they won’t have the same benefits as the older generation do today. During my Research I found a lot of adults here in Florida aren’t registered and if they are they aren’t voting.

A step that our political system could take to motivate young people is to encourage schools to teach them the importance of voting! Our schools spend so much time talking about the specifics and laws, but I was barely taught the importance of voting. It was just something that I was expected to know. Many people, including me, have parents to give encouragement. Others do not. I think it is important for schools to really discuss the current issues and get young kids, in high school, to discuss what they think!

Gerrymandering comes in many forms, but does nothing except hurt the current voting system. The best way to explain this is through example, so here goes. *In this image, the blue circles represent party A voters, and the red squares represent party B voters. The bold lines represent districts, created by the redistricting that occurs during every census, which are defined by the state legislative system. These lines can be manipulated in many ways, often creating a result that does not reflect the vast majority of citizen’s views. In this example, there are a required three districts. They are manipulated to cause a two-to-one victory, wasting all of the Party A votes and ensuring Party B a victory despite them having two thirds as many supporters. This is just one of the many forms of Gerrymandering.

A significant decline in political participation is apparent in the younger generations of this country. As a result of this lack of involvement, the future of young Americans is jeopardized if they fail to make their voices heard and utilize the influence they have on their government. If the youth do not express their ideas and goals that should be accomplished by society, consequentially, the leaders of this country will strive for goals whose are not those of the people. According to the memorable and historical leader, Thomas Jefferson," Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone.The government was intended to serve the people. This cannot be accomplished if the people choose not to vote. However, there

As time goes on fewer and fewer people between the ages of 18 and 24 are paying attention to government activity. Many young people do not have an active participation in government. They are unaware, unsure, and uninterested in what’s going on with today’s governing body. This is a problem considering that those people are a large part of the future of this country. To solve this issue, modifications need to be made... changes that can start right here on Trine’s campus. Students cannot be expected to vote if they do not understand how the whole process works. They need to be made more aware of the government’s actions and how it actually works. The lack of involvement could be due to a lack of knowledge and therefore a lack of participation.

There have been many efforts to persuade young people to vote. Some efforts include celebrity appearances, and mock elections. Youth today is attracted to the internet, and some states have adapted the used of E-Voting. According to 2Svensson, Jörgen, and Ronald Leenes, “With E-Voting, it takes the extra step and implies the electronic registration.” (Jörgen, Leenes, 2008 par 5) Most politicians are just looking at the older generation, appealing to them. Not to sound arrogant, but they aren’t going to be here forever. Young voters will not voter for people who they do not recognize into jobs they don’t understand. Majority of people in the U.S. watch T.V, and they use the media to catch up on their daily political news. Over the past decade, the media uses its time to catch candidates off guard and meddling into their lives. There has been little to no effort in reaching the younger generation. Intimidation is a huge factor, politicians are seen as money hungry people who only care for themselves. Politicians don’t believe that young voters will vote, so they won’t bother to reach out to them. A survey by the Australia Institute found that 4“1.2 million young Australians felt no political party represented their needs” (Lucas, Clay, 2013, par 8). Many people believe that if there were young politicians in office, it would have a big impact on young voters. Young people need politicians who are engaged with issues that

The Democratic system has been long withstanding in many countries, we take pride in having a government that is for, by, and of the people. With a democratic system comes the right to vote; it has a sense of empowerment—the power of voting bears within itself the power of change. With a government representing the views and will of the people, voters possess a significant responsibility that is capable of impacting the nation as a whole; but when misused or mishandled, can result in undesired repercussions. In many countries, youth are granted the ability to vote at the age of 18. However, the question of whether the voting age should be reduced to 16 has been debated nationwide for numerous years. While most individuals under the age of 18 are still in school and live with their families—two factors that encourage turnout and make informed decisions (Wagner, Joahnn, Kritzinger, 2012, 372), the reasoning falls short. This is because many youth are incapable of forming their own decisions and are limited to the consent of a guardian in many aspects. Young people below the age of 18 lack the motivation, knowledge and ambition to participate in the electoral process (Zeglovits, 2013, 250) and will not challenge the government to respond to their needs (Wagner et al. 2012, 373). In addition, various accounts of research has proven to show that the brains of young adults are not fully mature until their mid twenties. Due to this, they may not be able to comprehend the