Under-informed vs. Uninformed

Michael X. Deli Carpini brings up an important point about political participation which we have hinted about during our class discussions already. Intimidation plays a much greater role in shaping the way Americans participate in our democracy than I would have once imagined. Carpini argues that when Americans emphasize the importance of being an 'informed citizen,' they are really weakening the participation of Americans more than they are promoting it. The idea behind this is that when citizens are constantly reminded that they must be informed on every issue of politics to be considered a 'good citizen,' they become discouraged and refrain from any level of participation. They remove themselves from the political sphere because they are intimidated by the thought of sounding politically educated. As a student, I can completely relate to this thought process. There have been numerous occasions when I have not offered an answer to the teacher for fear of sounding stupid or illiterate on the topic being discussed. This doesn't necessarily mean I don't care about the subject matter. It may simply mean that I don't have the most perfect answer (the answer that an informed student might have), therefore choose to refrain from participating at all. Intimidation is a feeling that few people like to admit having, yet I am afraid it is more prevalent throughout the electorate than we might admit to.

I also appreciated Caprini's classification of 'under-informed' citizens. Caprini insists that we do not gain anything by taking an overall measure of how educated the entire population is. Rather, we need to look at how informed certain groups of the population are, because there are distinct differences. Education level is not random across race, gender, and age. Neither are preferences. If preferences (about financial and social issues for example) were random across these various groups, we would not have to worry about 100% participation from the population. Everyone's ideas would be well represented. The problem arises because the groups that prove to be less informed (blacks, women, younger people) tend have different needs than those in the most informed groups. The most informed groups are the ones that participate and shape policy the most.

How do we correct for this? Part of the problem with our current form of government is it is so vast that it is hard for most people to understand how their input into the system has a direct affect on their daily life. If people could place an obvious value on the time they spend working towards implementing a policy that will help them, they will be able to value the time they spend informing themselves on political issues. If the value is high enough, more people will set aside time for these activities. It is hard to imagine how we can make government more transparent though. Maybe an emphasis on the participation on local politics would help. People are more likely to see the lasting affects they can have on a smaller scale.