by Darrin A Yarbrough

Created on: April 08, 2009

On the surface this may seem to be the truth however in America, American's are not really very interested in political objectives. Thankfully, this is due to a system that enables them to lead happy and diverse lifestyles devoid of political activism. Unfortunately, it also means the majority is more often than not, asleep at the wheel when major events take place. Moreover, the very same events are likely to be inadvertently approved by the voting majority due to either an absence of understanding as to what is actually taking place or an indifference to it altogether due to the continuing comfort and complacency they experience daily.

Subsequently, campaign contributions very seldom are an indication of major voter support rather they are an indication of special interest groups and lobbyists attempting to sway events in their favor. This activity is also implemented during working hours for these groups who place enormous amounts of financial resources into insuring there are plenty of soldiers available to insure their objectives are passed (these very same people would be at home and indifferent otherwise).

Unfortunately, it becomes very difficult to decipher whether or not this fund-raising is indicative of a majority or minority movement. Furthermore, the very indifference of the American public serves to obfuscate the actions by remaining silent or disengaged until it is too late to discover the real majority opinion. The campaign fund-raisers happen to know this and although they canvass the public for support on their position, such efforts are targeted towards cross sections of the populace engineered to be supportive. Subsequently, the ones contacted regarding the issues are given the side of the position supported and not necessarily both sides. In addition, entire sections of the populace are left unaware due to lack of contact at all. This practice is very unlikely to change. It is a part of the political process and remains freely implemented constitutionally.

To some degree, campaign funding is an indication of voter support; it is not necessarily representative of the majority opinion. It is representative of an active minority engaged and involved in the political process. The American political system needs to have more of the public actively engaged and involved in order to get more representative public opinion. This is not entirely the burden of the political process to bear. Each person in a free government oriented system bears the burden of responsibility to remain educated and informed regarding the events occurring around them. The alternative only reveals dissatisfaction after the fact when it is too late to make a difference.

To summarize, the reason campaign funding is not representative of majority voter support is due in part to voter indifference. Those actively engaged and organized tend to generate support for their issues through hard work and are rewarded for those efforts. If rules are passed that do not reflect the wishes of the majority opinion, it can only be due to a lack of majority involvement. Only when the majority becomes actively involved in every issue can we accurately determine to what degree campaign funding represents voter support. In such events were the majority of voters are involved in an issue, that issue typically represents the wishes of the majority.

With respect to the question, campaign fund-raising is an indication of voter support, not necessarily the majority of voters support. Yes, campaign fund-raising represents voters however it may not necessarily reflect the opinion of the majority unless the topic, issue or person interests the majority at which time the majority turns out and votes on the issue at hand.

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