Voting in America

Three years ago, I never thought I would be paying serious attention to the hit TV phenomenon "American Idol." It has, however, become clear not only that sometime soon i should audition for it, but also what a good example of the average voter's consciousness in America is. Or perhaps i should say that it is incredibly indicative of how Americans vote.

Last week the office was up in arms because Latoya was voted off. Furthermore, i was infuriated too. She was CLEARLY the best. To the point where the other three girls were crying knowing that Latoya should have taken any of their places. Allow me to back up and explain how it worked. There were four last week. America first voted to choose the "top two," and then one from the "botton two" was selected to continue on to the next week with the "top two." It is basically a way to drag out the show even longer. However, it became evident fairly early in the season that people weren't voting for who they thought the most qualified because they assumed that the most qualified would get all the votes anyway. No, they assumed that their one vote wouldn't matter much but to make the underdog contestant that person is voting for feel better. And that right there is the heart of the problem in America.

We have a real soft spot for the underdog. I don't even need to go into the racist aspects of the voting that occured last week, because it seems fairly obvious. The most qualified singers happened to be black, and they were voted into the bottom two. The top two were horrible, and they made it the top two. But i'm not talking about racism or politics or political sway involved in voting. No, i'm talking about the fact that people in America don't vote for who is the most qualified. In the same way, people who voted for Bush in 2000. About half the population did not step back from their emotional biases and try to choose the most qualified candidate. No, they picked Bush because they simply liked him better. I acknowledge that this is not the same thing as voting for the underdog in American Idol. I'm simply saying that the same kind of mindset goes into it. I would argue that both are good examples of the lack of personal responsibility the American voter accepts. In one case, it's because they like someone better, in the other it's because they feel bad about not liking the underdog better. In both cases, the most qualified candidate does not make the cut.

Does this problem stem from the American voter feeling disenfranchised and therefore does not think that his/her vote actually counts? I would argue that the problem does come from disillusionment due to the lack of action that political leaders take when concerning decisions for the people they represent. Perhaps the system doesn't work because our republic is not accurately representing our democracy. For this reason, the current system we have is not working. It makes me wonder if we can really carry on a republican democracy and have it actually work without having the under-represented minoroties feeling disillusioned and becoming apathetic. Because apathetic is the worst thing a voter can get. That's when you stop thinking it matters, and start voting based on some unheard emotion of your own.