Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005140190
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Judging from their actions, most Americans of voting age today may be willing to forfeit the right that others fought and died to win. They're not interested enough even to learn the names of people running for the nation's top offices. That not only is an abdication of duty and responsibility; it also poses a danger to our democratic form of government.
A commission headed by Robert M. O'Neil, president of the University of Virginia, recently completed a two-year study of presidential politics. It found that an "astonishing" number of citizens were so indifferent to national elections that they did not know who the candidates for vice president were in 1988.
In telephone surveys of nearly 1,900 people in the autumn of 1988, 49 percent did not know that Lloyd Bentsen was the Democratic nominee for vice president. A somewhat greater percentage knew who Dan Quayle was; but two months before the national election, 37 percent of Americans of voting age didn't recognize the GOP nominee either.
Interestingly, the commission was established by a private philanthropic foundation to study news coverage of the campaign and make recommendations for improving political reporting. But as the study proceeded, said O'Neil, the commission members became convinced that the basic problem was not weaknesses in news coverage.
"American voters today," said the commission's report, "do not seem to understand their rightful place in the operation of democracy. They act as if they believe that presidential elections belong to somebody else, most notably presidential candidates and their handlers."
Not that news coverage couldn't be better. The panel saw it as overly occupied with conflict and with "horse race" elements such as poll standings, campaign strategy and styles, and tactical maneuvers. Issues got short shrift.
In part this resulted from the campaign itself, which stressed personal attacks and non-issues. No wonder such things turn voters off and away from the polls; opinion surveys show an increasing number of people feel that their vote is meaningless and that government does not listen to them.
But if the public allows politicians and their handlers to devalue the entire political process, then in effect the disenchanted deliver government into the hands of the disenchanters. That is an awful lot for someone to cede to those he or she doesn't trust.
After the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was asked: "Well, Doctor, what have we got: a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin replied: "A republic if you can keep it." A majority of voters appears ready to give it away.
by CNB