American Government Discussion

Do our votes matter? (Lesson 9 Discussion Forum) As noted in the reading for this week, the voter turnout for elections in the US is lower than in comparable countries. The causes of this are complicated and disputed, but one possible explanation is that voters feel that their vote does not matter (such voters could be described as apathetic or alienated). In more technical terms, such voters believe that the American government is not really responsive to the concerns of typical voters. Our discussion this weeks focuses on this issue. Please respond to each of the prompts below: ● First, briefly state whether you think the federal government is responsive to the concerns of citizen. Then, address the following two questions (please address both, though also free free to bring up additional factors not mentioned below): ● Are both parties too influenced by money (campaign donations) from wealthy donors, so it does not matter a great deal what typical voters think? ● Does it make a difference which party wins? Are there substantial policy differences between the two parties or do they stand for basically the same things? Even if party policies differ , has government become so large, log-jammed, and bureaucratic (and citizens so polarized), that neither party can get much done even when they win?