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Citizen Apathy Analysis

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The Dangers of Citizen Apathy
Democracy is a system of government that relies on citizens being involved in and educated about the actions of the government so that they can vote for representatives who accurately reflect the will of the people. The power ultimately resides within the citizens, however, what happens when the people become politically apathetic? Being politically apathetic means to be indifferent towards political activity. It results in the lack of engagement in discussion, absence of civic responsibility and the failure to be educated about government action. In the source, the perspective provided is one that, in terms of public welfare, believes an authoritarian government is less dangerous than the indifference of citizens …show more content…
He thought that citizens must participate in and be aware of the law, otherwise the system of democracy would not work. Those who would agree with the source would also agree with the ideas of Montesquieu. They would argue that by not being involved in the works of the government, citizens are inadvertently oppressing themselves by allowing power to fall into the wrong hands. Furthermore, they would see that over citizen apathy, an oligarchy with a tyrant is more beneficial to the public welfare because the government would be making more informed decisions than uninterested citizens would. Those who would disagree with the source would argue that the tyrannical rule of a prince who only has concern is himself and would make decisions based on that, is much worse than citizens not being involved. They would see that over an oligarchy, citizen apathy is more beneficial to the public good because decisions are still being left in the hands of citizens, not a selfish and oppressive leader. We should embrace the perspective presented in the source because the public welfare relies on the government making informed decisions, which would be better done by a tyrant than by …show more content…
Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, has caused American politics to gain tremendous attention worldwide. Many people are wondering how someone who is misogynistic, xenophobic, and an outright liar possibly become the head of state of one of the most influential countries in the world. Part of the reason someone like Trump has been able to make it this far in the election is that during the primaries only 73 of the 323 million people in America voted, and only 14 million votes were for him. To put another way, Trump was elected the Republican nominee by just 4.3 percent of America’s population. The apathy of citizens in America has allowed the potential rise to power of someone who could be a threat to the public welfare. The United States is one of the more culturally diverse nations in the world and is home to many people of different races and religions. Trump has made racial comments specifically towards groups of these diverse individuals, for example, calling Mexicans thieves and rapists and declaring to build a wall on the border between the countries. He has also said that he would ban Muslim immigration into the United States and that he would deport all illegal immigrants living in the nation. If Trump were to come to power and carry out these threats, the methods of doing so could potentially be violent. There are many different

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