Published August 1, 2004 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
On July 21, before this week’s Democratic Convention, the Daily Tribune ran a piece by nationally syndicated columnist Joseph Perkins that carried the headline “America is a Republican Nation.”
In response, I offer this. Saying that America is a “Republican nation” is like saying that Arctic Cat is “America’s snowmobile.”
Some people will agree. Some will disagree. Most – including the two-thirds of the country without snow – will say, “What does that mean?” Worst case: “What’s a snowmobile?”
I’m not here to tell you that America is a Democratic nation. It’s not that either. I’m here to say America is a nation full of partisan rhetoric and a couple hundred million people disillusioned with politics, politicians and most of what they see on the news, if they still bother to watch the news. This year’s convention ratings are poised for record lows.
Perkins cites how Republicans control the elected government as his prime evidence. He failed to mention that Republicans also control the Supreme Court, the reason they hold the White House. The Senate is in Republican hands by a couple seats. The House, where beating incumbents is tough, tends to stick with one party in control for more than a decade.
He also dramatically underestimated the majority of Americans who don’t vote at all. More than half of all Americans eligible stay home on Election Day. I don’t know what they stand for any more than Joe Perkins or the guy down at the end of the bar. They don’t vote because they don’t recognize themselves as part of the system.
Why don’t they? Why would they?
Every day we read or see another partisan slam, from one side or the other, largely void of substance. The perception – thus the reality – of politics today is of an endless melee of personal destruction.
The national media, the main dispersers of political thought, aren’t helping. Political news focuses on polls and negative ads, interspersed with stories about bears that attack missing pregnant women. This week, the Democrats laid out their policy platform for the 2004 election. The Republican response was focused on vague questions of John Kerry’s consistency over the years – something they’ve drummed up by taking his Senate votes out of context. Next month’s Republican convention will be met by similar attacks from Democrats. Even the least informed person knows that political priorities generally omit the issues that matter to them, like health coverage, housing costs and wages that meet rising living expenses. Consciously, or subconsciously, they tune out.
Two years ago, I interviewed Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer. I asked why states continue to propagate systems where people are expected to declare party affiliation (as they do to participate in caucuses and even to serve as election judges) when so few people, especially young people, are loyal to any party.
She said that people like those I described need to “grow up” and enact change within political parties if they don’t like what they see. I didn’t mention that statement in the story at the time, but I now realize that saying that won’t make people join political parties – it will make them stay home on election day.
America is not a “Republican Nation.” America is, largely, an undecided nation. America is a nation whose true power and potential lies untapped. When those now detached from the process realize what’s being done at their expense and vote, then we will learn what kind of nation we really are.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.