Turned off from politics? That’s exactly what the politicians want.

[kpete]

Turned off from politics? That’s exactly what the politicians want.

If you asked Americans to identify the most noticeable change in U.S. politics over the past two decades, they’d probably answer that politics has become more polarized and that this has made it harder for the government to address the problems the country faces…

Contrary to what many believe, the central effect of such negative advertising isn’t to move voters from supporting another candidate to backing yours, as Mitt Romney and his allies have discovered during this primary season. The main effect is not even to move undecided voters into your column. No, the real effect of negative advertising is to energize and solidify support among your ideological base while turning everyone else off to the other candidate, the campaign and the entire electoral process. Negative advertising isn’t about changing minds; it’s about altering the composition of the voter pool on Election Day by turning moderate voters into non-voters…

Energizing the base has another important advantage: It increases campaign contributions from both small donors and rich zealots. That money can be plowed back into yet more negative advertising along with sophisticated get-out-the-vote efforts on Election Day. This self-reinforcing cycle creates a strong incentive for politicians to abandon the center and move permanently to the ideological extreme. You do not energize the base through moderation and compromise.

What makes this an effective and rational strategy, of course, is the phenomenon known as “free riding.” When you think about it, it’s pretty irrational for any of us to vote. During these endless campaigns, it takes an extraordinary amount of time and energy to inform yourself about the candidates and their positions. And it takes time and energy to interrupt your daily schedule and vote. And for what? Rarely, if ever, does any single vote make a difference in the outcome. The rational thing is to just stay home and let everyone else do their civic duty while we still enjoy the full benefits of democracy…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/turned-off-from-politics-thats-exactly-what-the-politicians-want/2012/04/20/gIQAffxKWT_story.html
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/04/21/open-thread-dont-give-them-any-more-ideas/

[Scuba]

1. Turn everyone into cynics and no one will vote....

... which is just what the reich-wing wants.

[rock]

2. Actually, it inept news reporting that turns me off. n/t

[Romulox]

3. It's the relentless co-opting of rightwing economics that turns me off... nt

[Lionessa]

4. What's the point in being turned on when we are still just a impotent to change

anything and even moreso since Citizens' United.

[applegrove]

5. The democrats take new found knowledge and apply it to the laws of the country. The GOP hate

regulations. And this is the information age where more and more knowledge will become available.
That is why the GOP want to stop any government. And they succeeded at stopping
governance during Obama term quite a bit.

[Fumesucker]

6. The GOP does not hate regulations..

They are enacting stringent regulations around the nation on a woman's right to choose among a great many other things.

Authoritarians are by no means anti-regulation and if you look up authoritarian in the dictionary you'll find a picture of a conservative Republican.

[JoePhilly]

7. No, just the GOP ... it is a key element of their strategy.

Look ...

One party, Dem, believe that the government can do good things.

One party, GOP, believe that the government can NEVER do good things.

Now ... when the GOP is in power, they do nothing good. If they do anything at all, it is to enrich their cronies. Past that, the government has no role.

When the GOP is out of power, they do everything they can to prevent the government from doing anything good. They actively work against it.

The Dems, when out of power try to prevent the GOP from doing too much evil, and maybe do a few good things. A nearly impossible task.

The Dems, when in power, try to do good things, while the GOP opposes them. And so, the Dems end up doing "some" good things, while also ending up letting some bad stuff to get through in the process.

Why do the Dems do this ... because they know that the GOP LOVEs gridlock because ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GETS DONE!!!

And so ... if the Dems are as obstinate as the GOP, nothing happens ... and that is EXACTLY what the GOP wants in the first place.