Ahson Hamid

th
4 hour, AP Gov
11/01/10
Title of Article: Why Americans Hate Politics and Politicians
Thesis Statement: The blame of governmental ineffectiveness is put on politicians and politics its
self because the structure and constitution, according to Americans, basically have no problems.

Summary:
• The problem is that Americans hold tightly to fundamental, but contradictory, values
about the way in which the American political system should work. While many
Americans think that their should be a higher governing power that has ultimate control,
they also believe that popular sovereignty should exist within America. This, however,
does not happen very easily.
• American political culture consists of our longstanding, widely-shared, and deeply-felt
values about how the political system ought to work.
• Americans revere the Constitution because they realize that it really is something special
after observing the law of other countries.
• Media has a negative influence from talk-show hosts who view politics as a very negative
aspect of society
• One of the most effective strategies Americans take for dealing with problems is to
pretend that they do not exist.
• The media is another suspect of why American hate politics. The media trashes
politicians on TV news shows and radio talk shows.
• Dionne argues, conservatives don’t want to admit the need for government help and
liberals don’t want to tell poor people to take responsibility for their lives, so nothing is
done.
• The framework of liberalism and conservatism also play a huge role in distorting the
minds of the American people.
• Some political scientists argue that the pool of people running for office is no longer
filled with people that average people can relate with. Also, once in office, candidates
usually focus on reelection and this leads to feelings of indifference from the average
people.
• According to Ehrenhalt, the pool of people running for office contains a majority of
liberals. According to him, it is because they like government and are more likely to be
drawn to it on a full-time basis.

Reaction: I personally believe that so many issues arise in within American government because
the policy-making system, overtime, has become so complex that it has frustrated not only
members of the congress, but the citizens of America as well. I found it weird that many of the
political scientists who included their views in the article kept hinting that a larger government is
bad. They were speaking more along the lines of the absolute non-existence of higher
government, and one can only speculate which side of the political spectrum they stand on. A
possible explanation of political apathy and hatred in the minds of Americans, could also be lack
of education. Most people don't even know about half of the stuff they talk about on the news.
So, what do they do? They switch the channel to MTV and watch Jersey Shore instead.
Consequently, when a significant political issue arises, they have no clue what's going on.