The system is broken because we fail to hold our politicians accountable.

[Drunken Irishman]

Yes, that includes Democrats - but it mostly includes everyone. Our federal officials do not fear us - and why should they? Tomorrow, err today, at least 80% of incumbents are going to win. Some are even running unopposed. Many will have been backed by political lobbying groups whose sole purpose is to buy off our elected officials. Sadly, many will be Democrats.

We have a broken system because we don't vote. Tomorrow, if we're lucky, a majority of the country will vote - if we're lucky. In 2010, only 40.9% of the voting eligible public voted. Not even half of those eligible voters could be bothered to vote in an election that, as we've come to see, played a pretty major role in the development of our nation the last few years.

40.9%

That is an abysmal number for a federal election.

So, again, why should Washington fear us? Why should they even listen to us?

There's a great scene in the Richard Linklater movie Slacker (1991) where one of the throwaway characters is going on and on about how the media talks up George H.W. Bush's mandate in the 1988 election. He goes through a mini-rant about how the numbers overall show just how many people either didn't vote for Bush or didn't vote at all - making the mandate look less impressive than it actually was.

It's true. Candidate A might win election day with 60% of the vote - but if only 40% of the eligible voters show up, that's hardly a mandate in terms of overall population.

But that's what they're counting on from the public. They're counting on the apathy. The greatest tool an incumbent can have in an election is apathy. When you get down to it, that's how they survive because the low information voters, the individuals who, absurdly enough, do their civic duty, mostly just vote for the name they recognize. So, incumbents win and we replay this whole episode over two years later.

In 1992, 104,426,611 Americans voted in the presidential election. In 1994, just as pivotal election, roughly only 68 million voted in congressional elections.

We're still paying for that 1994 election.

But again, that's what the politicians are counting on. They realize they're most likely going to win reelection, even though most America thinks they're not doing a good job, and that also means they don't have to cater to anything or anyone - not you or your ideals.

If tomorrow every incumbent lost, even those we really do love, it would certainly put a whole lot of people on notice. But it isn't going to happen. Most will sail to wins and those candidates we despise, guys like Mitch McConnell, could very well slide on in for the win because, again, apathy reigns supreme.

The system is broken. The problem is that we're not willing to put up the fight. We've got to get out of this mentality that the system can be changed with one election. It can't. It can start with one election - but it may take voting in someone you don't necessarily like just to get someone out of office you absolutely despise. Then you put that person on notice.

If our politicians feared the voting public, Washington would work for us. But they have no need to - not when tomorrow roughly 60% of the voting public won't go to the polls.

You can't fear something that doesn't exist.

So, let's hold 'em accountable. Flip that number so that even 60% of the people show up to the polls, as was nearly the case in 2012, and you'll instantly start seeing our congresspeople sweat. They'll realize the honeymoon is over and, yes, the people will actually throw 'em out for doing a lousy job.

Tomorrow, though, a lot of politicians who don't deserve to win will because a majority of this country won't stand up and hold 'em accountable. Then we'll whine about the system and our broken government and ultimately create a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

Well if you don't vote, whether you want to hear it or not, you're part of the problem.

You're furthering the breaking of our political system.