Voter Disenfranchisement in America

In a nation where political socialization is almost entirely dictated by media sound bites, only sixty four percent of Americans care to vote for the President, and the Terminator is the governor of California, one cannot help but notice the sentiment of growing apathy towards American politics. Americans no longer seek long, eloquent speeches by intelligent, compelling politicians; a speech as deep as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address would probably be received with lackluster enthusiasm. American involvement in politics has been condensed, rather, to hearing ten-second audio clips of President Bush taunting Iraqi insurgents, telling them to bring it on, or to watching five minutes of a Hannity and Colmes debate.

This is not the first time in American history where this trend has been seen. Walter Lippmann and John Dewey debated the issue in the years following World War I. Lippmann argued in his 1927 book The Phantom Public that because of citizen incompetence and the complexity of the issues, the public does not exist, and it in no real sense does it express its opinion save few instances of crisis. John Dewey responded with his book The Public and its Problems, where he argues that the public very much so exists, but it cannot find itself due to the public being many and scattered, and a lack of communication. Lippman's idea of the growing disconnect between the public and its institutions can be seen in the way American citizens currently approach politics, while Dewey's ideas seem less applicable, as the communication ability of the citizenry is extensive and unparalleled, yet still the public cannot find itself.

Lippmann begins his book by stating that the "private citizen today has come to feel rather like a deaf spectator in the back row, who ought to keep his mind on the mystery off there, but cannot quite manage to keep awake." (Lippmann 3) This metaphor intends to describe the average citizen as oblivious to public affairs, which he says are "managed...at distant centers, from behind the scenes, by unnamed powers." (Lippmann 3) Lippmann blames the citizen's disenchantment primarily on democratic theory. He claims that what democracy expects from its citizens (being competent and staying informed and making educated decisions on public affairs) is an unattainable ideal. Lippmann means this quite literally, as he states that he has not met anybody, from the President to a political science professor, who he believes fulfills all of the expectations of a democratic government. Lippmann jests that even an attempt to utilize eugenics to create a perfect citizen would undoubtedly come up short. For Lippmann, citizens do not govern America, because the functions of government do not reflect the will of the people. Instead, the people reflect their opinions in how they support or oppose those individuals who do govern. The exception is when government officials fail, and public opinion is actually used to settle an issue.

Lippmann's ideas made sense both in 1927 and in recent times. Lippmann wrote the book in the decade after World War I, and in many ways, it was a response to how the public was dealt with during the war. Most Americans did not want to get involved with the war from the beginning:
"The proper foreign policy was to stay out of foreign complications. From the Civil War to 1914 the country had fixed its attention on building factories and staking out homesteads, on careering open. In an age of comparatively slow transportation and communication, the countries of Europe seemed far off and, at that, hopelessly given to kinds and armies and squabbles. Even these decadent nations were assumed to have passed beyond the stage where they would commit the folly of a war big enough to involve the United States." (Goldman 233)

Woodrow Wilson had to garner support for the war through an enormous propaganda blitz. He created the Committee on Public Information on April 13, 1917, in order to promote the war within America and abroad. "The [Committee on Public Information] blended advertising techniques with a sophisticated understanding of human psychology, and its efforts represent the first time that a modern government disseminated propaganda on such a large scale." (Duffy OL) Aside from distributing propaganda, the organization also circulated suggested guidelines to media companies regarding what information they should print. The organization "did not have explicit enforcement power, but it nevertheless enjoyed censorship power which was tantamount to direct legal force." Even more serious reports surfaced that "'tools' were planted among organizations...supposed to have dangerous tendencies, and were instructed to incite them to unlawful acts; meeting places of such associations were raided without proper warrant, property was destroyed, papers seized, innocent bystanders beaten, and persons guilty of no discernible offense rushed off to jail, subjected to police torture, held without bail, and released without recourse." (Goldman 255) The American government was no less oppressive than a totalitarian state.

Considering how the American government treated its citizens, it is no shock that Americans would not trust the government, and that voter turnout rates for the Presidential election would be at an all-time low of 50% (Lippmann 7). Lippmann holds voter disenchantment accountable for these results: "When, during an agitation of some sort, say a political campaign, he hears himself and some thirty million others described as the source of all wisdom and power and righteousness, the prime mover and the ultimate goal, the remnants of sanity in him protest. He cannot all the time play Chanticleer who was so dazzled and delighted because he himself had caused the sun to rise." (Lippman 5)

Lippmann excuses the disenchanted voters, however, because they have been asked to do the impossible by their democratic government. It makes sense for them to become jaded. By no means, either, is this disenchantment limited to 1920s America. Voter turnout dropped again in the 1970s as voters became disenchanted because they did not trust their government. Between the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal, voters felt discontented and insignificant, and voter turnout rates have continued to drop since then. (http://www.eac.gov/election_resources/htmlto5.htm) Today, voters might feel alienated from the government because they are unhappy with the war in Iraq and the consequences of recent attempts to curb terrorism, namely the results of the Patriot Act and George W. Bush's illegal wiretapping program through the National Security Agency.

John Dewey rejected Lippmann's ideas in his 1927 book The Public and its Problems, where he stated that the public does exist, but needs fixing in order to find itself. Dewey defends democracy:

"We have every reason to think that whatever changes may take place in existing democratic machinery, they will be of a sort to make the interest of the public a more supreme guide and criterion of governmental activity, and to enable the public to form and manifest its purposes still more authoritatively. In this sense the cure for the ailments of democracy is more democracy." (Dewey 484)

Dewey specifically cites improved communication as a way to create a more united public. He claims that "there can be no public without full publicity in respect to all consequences which concern it. Whatever obstructs and restricts publicity, limits and distorts public opinion and checks and distorts thinking on social affairs. Without freedom of expression, not even methods of social inquiry can be developed." (Dewey 493) Although Dewey's idea seems sound, one needs to look no further than today's society to prove him wrong. In every way imaginable, humans have expanded on communication. With significantly advanced transportation, faster and more efficient telecommunications, and the advent of the Internet, humans are globally connected every second of the day. Dewey would certainly agree that our society has the tools necessary to transform from a Great Society into a Great Community, yet none of our problems have been remedied. This glaring weakness in Dewey's argument due to events that he could not possibly foresee makes his argument outdated, if not completely invalid. The Internet empowers users, where they can express their opinions by engaging in message forums or chat rooms, or even by starting their own blogs, a recent trend that has led to unimaginable popularity for some regular citizens whose voices would otherwise remain unheard.

Walter Lippmann's ideas put forth in The Phantom Public are notably relevant to American political culture even today, eighty years after it was written. Americans feel just as disenchanted with their political institutions, and remain absent from the polls for similar reasons. The book's direct opponent, John Dewey's The Public and its Problems, has not remained quite so relevant, adding strength and credibility to Lippmann's work. Lippmann's ideas live on in the broken up hearts of would-be American Chanticleers, demoralized and disheartened by their failing democratic system.

Works Cited
Dewey, John. The Public and Its Problems. Chatham: Chatham House, Inc. 482-500.
Duffy, Michael. "Feature Articles: of Fraud and Force Fast Woven: Domestic Propaganda During the First World War." FirstWorldWar.Com. 8 Mar. 2007 .
Goldman, Eric F. Rendezvous with Destiny. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 1952. 233-255.
Lippmann, Walter. The Phantom Public. New Brunswick: Transaction, 2006.
"National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-1996." Federal Election Commission. 8 Mar. 2007 .