Up in Ontario

Why Young People Don't Vote

In preparation for the coming Canadian national election, much hullabaloo has been made about dropping voter turnout, in particular among young Canadians. Panels have been convened, expert opinions solicited, and no one seems to have a very satisfactory answer. Nothing, at least, that presents a way to turn the tide and re-engage young voters with the political process. Boomers nostalgically recall their own days of political activism with fondness borne of mysticism and romance. But no one seems able to offer much more than speculation about why young people don't vote. It must just be the youth of today.

But is it? I have compiled below some reasons I can imagine for dropping voter turnout. Consider it my own speculation on why young people don’t vote.

Generational Succession

Birth rates tend to be highest among populations with the lowest voter participation. Basically, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to vote; the poorer you are, the less likely you are to vote. People at lower income levels have more children. Those children grow up and follow the example of their parents. And don't vote. Wealthier parents vote, register their children to vote and take their children with them to vote for the first time. It's like an inheritance of franchise (or disenfranchisement) through habit.

Chosen Obsolesence

Over the past 20 years governments have worked hard to limit, and in many cases retract from, their role in society. The mantra of the public sector getting out of the way of the private sector has been adopted by numerous governments at all levels of responsibility. Government incompetence is such a common phrase in public discourse that no one seems to challenge its validity or its origins. This essentially amounts to self-loathing on two levels when you really think about it: the elected officials hating themselves and their roles and citizens hating their common representative elected bodies and power structures.

One of the truisms of democracy is that an electorate tends to get the government it demands. Canadians haven't demanded much for the past few decades except that the government castrate its powers and limits its scope, and so that is what we have gotten. Should it surprise us that now we hear young people say that government doesn't really matter to them?

Diminishing Possibilities

Electoral politics is a big money, high stakes game. Exhaustive research goes into messages and targetting. At the outset of any election the majority of the riding races fall into a two categories: known outcomes and unknown outcomes. Without sounding like a Rumsfeld briefing, the ridings where outcomes are known receive very little attention while the ridings where outcomes are in question received almost all the attention.

The business of electing a government has largely been reduced to the outcomes of a few swing ridings. These riding get the action. If you're outside these ridings then you're out of luck for handouts and attention.

Pitching for the Middle

Since the majority of the population of every riding comprises baby boomers, those between the ages of 40 and 55, and the older we are the more likely we are to vote, messages are tailored to this fat group that votes. If young people don't historically vote in as large numbers, and there aren't as many of them around in comparative numbers, why should politicians tailor their message to a smaller segment of the population that is less likely to vote? Young people and young people's issues get no play so young people tune out.

Now, just imagine what the political scene will be like 20 years from now when baby boomers are between 60 and 75 and exercising their grey power. Seniors vote like hell. They have all the time in the world and they can make or break political campaigns. Will politicians be forced into running advertisements based on Matlock plots to capture the attention of their constituents? Will the votes and opinions of any other age groups matter?

Specialization and Lobbying

One of the largest industries in every capital city is the industry known euphemistically as lobbying. Interest groups, with corporations, which operate as legal persons, leading the way, hire advocates to influence governments on their behalf. This is an ancient and well-acknowledged profession whose origins go back as far as organized society itself and include the courtiers and jesters of royal courts, the consultants and pollsters of today and the shamans and elders of tribal societies. Different criteria have been used by different societies to select their influencers - wisdow and age, money and power, military prowess - and these influencers are as much a part of the process as the electorate. They have masters they are beholden to, interests they serve and goals they seek to achieve.

But one of the most prevalent changes in our political systems of the past 30 years has been the growth of lobbying and the interoperation of government and industry. Many of the same individuals frequently play on both side of the equation, depending on whether their favoured party is in power or in opposition. The result has been that interest groups have cultivated and nurtured resources (time, people and money) dedicated solely to advancing their causes and interests. The electorate of citizens do not have resources dedicated to advancing their causes and interests. They have politicians who are supposed to be accountable to them. But the politicians are constantly bombarded by the influence peddlers. Should we be surprised to find that on some occasions our politicians have ended up in bed with the influence peddlers after a night on the town (on the tab of the company)?

Living a Local Inheritance

One of the largest societal trends in Canada over the past three decades has been migration: the movement of people from the country to the city and from smaller cities to larger cities largely characterizes the early 21st century Canadian experience. I know, I no longer live where I grew up. Within the close half-dozen friends who I grew up with only one of us still lives in the same city. We are a country of dislocated citizens. As a results, we are not invested in local, community issues.

For instance: what are the issues that affect your new community? Who are the people who represent your community best? Who has represented your community best over the past hundred years? Do you know your neighbours? Politics and culture are intertwined. They belong to a place and the people who live there and they evolve over time. If we remain in one place then the issues of that place, its politics, its culture, are as much a part of ourselves as the stories we have heard and created, the way we know our way around the back streets, the way we remember how a patch of land looked when we were young. If we move, who do we inherit the issues of a place from? The Better Business Bureau welcome wagon?

Of course, all this politics is a hard and messy business without clear answers or, what everyone is looking for but no one is offering, solutions. Maybe it's easier just to give up, to just let a computer decide on the ideal candidate for you and not have to go through the bother of being a responsible citizen. But then, as Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker in the original Spiderman comic series, "With great power comes great responsibility." Do you deserve your vote if you do not honour its responsibility?