Forum Showcases Apathy

The lunchtime forum was advertised on a college campus for more than a week, but when the three Democratic candidates for Congress took their places at the head of a classroom recently, they nearly outnumbered those in the audience.

Actually, four students showed up to hear from some of the candidates who want to unseat Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). One student left, however, after an outburst in which he declared that he was actually a Republican.

How unhappy can people be with American politics if those who want to propose change cannot find anybody to listen?

Clearly, politics has alienated people so that many don’t feel their vote makes a difference. But the common response has not been the reaction of Howard Beale to open the windows and shout: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” On the contrary, too much of the public’s political response is a pathetic whimper.

Curiously, at this college campus forum, part of the problem was evident in the notes scribbled on the blackboard behind the candidates. They appeared to be part of the lesson from a previous political science class. The problem was that the lesson was as irrelevant to modern politics as this candidate debate was to the student population.

The subject headings were: “Majoritarian Politics,” “Interest Group Politics,” “Client Politics” and “Entrepreneurial Politics.”

In more than 10 years of covering government and campaigns, I have never heard of majoritarian politics.

On the blackboard, that term was defined as “cases in which both costs and benefits are widely distributed.” Entrepreneurial politics was “cases in which benefits are distributed and costs are concentrated.”

Oh.

A box was also drawn on the blackboard with the headline “Major Federal Welfare Programs.” As some examples, it listed Social Security, AFDC, Medicaid, unemployment compensation and veterans benefits.

The problem is, many of those programs are run by the state, not the federal government. And even more worrisome is the inclusion of items like Social Security and veterans benefits on a list of welfare programs.

I’m sure soldiers who return from a war don’t consider their benefits to be charity. Same with Social Security. Most taxpayers collecting Social Security don’t consider it a handout--it’s pay-back for all the years they contributed to the program.

Inaccurate and boring. No wonder there were no students in this candidate forum.

Suddenly, the problems facing the nation seemed even bigger. The solutions really do have to start at the beginning.

One sad part is that studying politics really can be fun, as well as important.

Campaigns are like sports competitions, with strategies and statistics that can keep any trivia buff busy. Politics has colorful personalities and plenty of gossip for those who like the entertainment pages. And it’s a showcase for opinion, analysis and insight into the major issues of our nation and world.

And especially this year, the drama and stakes have rarely been greater. It should be hard to make a political science class boring today. This is a fascinating time to watch the American campaign system. It is certain to be a political benchmark through the next century.

Already, the Democratic Party has broken from its traditional roots to rally around a new breed of candidate. Minority communities in California are poised to gain more political control than ever before. And the Republicans are hoping to spark major change in state government by taking control of the Legislature.

It is clearly a sea of change. Too bad a lot of people won’t see it.