Can One Be A Political Agnostic?

This morning, I was told by a friend that when it came to a particular issue he was an agnostic. He said that in order to learn about the issue, he would have to do a great deal of reading and that he was not prepared to devote the time required. It got me thinking. America has an electorate that is notorious for not paying attention to most issues and campaigns. How many times have you heard some pundit announce that most folks don't care about the presidential race until after Labor Day? Here we are in the middle of an election that will determine the direction of the country off into the future, an election that presents a much starker choice than usual, and most folks are really not paying attention at all.

Just think about what that means. President Obama runs a campaign that is based upon lies regarding Mitt Romney and his career at Bain Capital, and most folks don't even know that they are being fed a diet of untruths. Indeed, most folks aren't even paying sufficient attention to get anything other than a vague impression about what Obama is saying. The country has to decide if it wants bigger or smaller government, if it wants to become a social democracy like the welfare states of Europe or if it wants to maintain the traditional American limits on government that made us the richest and most successful country in the history of the world, but the majority of folks do not even understand this choice. How can one choose wisely if one does not even bother to learn what the options really are?

In what seems like a thousand years ago, my high school English teacher had a section of readings that promoted the idea that with freedom comes responsibility. In other words, citizens of a free society have the duty to educate themselves about issues and to conduct that society and themselves in a way that will preserve and protect the freedoms that form the basis for the society. But we now have a nation of political agnostics. They do not care enough to meet their responsibilities as citizens. They are prepared to let someone else do it.

The time has come for that to change. It will not be easy. It will not happen overnight. The change will have to happen one person at a time. Each of us has to take part. We need to educate our friends and neighbors to the realities of the choice in front of us and the consequences of each option. We need to use reason, truth and clarity as our weapons. We cannot rely on lies or distortion or even gross over simplification like the other side. We need to make sure that a large majority of Americans understand the true meaning of November. Then, we can rely on the good sense of the American people to choose wisely.