what is undecided?

I guess it's been quite some time since the inception of the blog. I thought I would be so much better at this, but I forgot to consciously make time for it. I must apologize to myself.

I've spent the last couple weeks, as the election draws near, thinking about what it means to be 'undecided.'As recently as Friday I commented at a meeting that I no longer believe any person could be undecided in the election. How could somebody not know where they stand on the economy, taxes, health care, energy? The entire pop culture and even all facets of mainstream media are engulfed in election topics. Even if you ignore that, just watch a commercial here in Ohio- campaign propaganda is everywhere. I simply could not understand how individuals could not have a belief one way or another.

I set out to grind the pavement this past weekend to find out more about my fellow Ohioans. Turns out, I met a lot of individuals who considered themselves 'undecided'. There were those that said they felt that way who actually were leaning one way or another and just wanted to chew the fat, but there were several genuine undecideds as well. Their uncertainty stemmed from a similar reason- ultimately, they all said in some form that they did not want to vote for either candidate. They felt like they had NO option instead of two options. Of course we all know the perils of our two-party system, but I couldn't help but realize my own frustration at this important juncture in time. Although I have strong opinions about the policies and stances put forth by both campaigns, I am struck that I don't feel like I have a choice about what will happen after inauguration day. Are the 'undecideds' just steps ahead of how I may feel 4 months from now? Will I feel like I don't have any choices when Jan 11th arrives? What political action will have to exercise at that point? When the health care bill I am so passionate about doesn't pass in both houses- then what?

Which one of these is not like the other?

Remember that song you learned in elementary school to identify objects that did not resemble the others? "Which one of these is not like the others? Which one of these is different?" No? Yes? Anyway I can hear that song in my head on a regular basis (I think in song, we can get to that later...) and I keep looking around this election cycle to find which position is different or new. Who is asking the really hard questions? Who is willing to face up to the daunting problems facing us today? For me, the only person I knew who asked those questions passed away last week. I had no idea I was so attached to Tim Russert, but as soon as I heard about his heart attack, I found myself in tears. I decided that I wanted to post a blog that puts those same questions out in the public space. Well, I may not be able to address any of the questions, but I'll at least pose them to others who may have really stellar answers. I'll offer my half-baked thoughts, but hope that others can heat up the issues.

So my latest issue stems from some recent presentations I've given. Lately I've been speaking to groups in town about the "Millennial Generation" (Howe and Strauss, http://www.millennialgeneration.org/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Strauss) and "The Creative Class" (Richard Florida, http://creativeclass.com/). Our town is a post-industrial city in the Midwest that cannot find a vision for the future. Then, I went to a conference about democracy a couple weeks ago and heard all these depressing presentations about the future for my generation (I'm a millennial). The assumption from both the conference attendees (primarily political science professors) and the locals in the community was that the millennial generation just needs to go out and vote. I couldn't help but wonder why voting is the answer. Everyone keeps telling me that democracy, especially this notion of participatory democracy is the answer. If my generation wants change, why don't we let our votes do the talking? Why don't we form social alliances and protest in large numbers for what we believe?

I have two thoughts. First, my generation is inundated with an insane amount of constant information. Gen Xers, Boomers and the Greatest Generation all had large social issues to coalesce around- the Vietnam war, the Great Depression, Kurt Cobain (ok the tech boom? yuppie-ness?), but our generation has thousands of "issues" thrown at us each month. Should we help Darfur, the Tsunami victims, Hurricane Katrina, The Iraq war, China earthquakes, or rebel against the latest Bush administration snafu. There are just too many damn issues to pick one!!!!

Secondly, Why should I believe in democracy at all? I was born in the early 80's and have known only Regan, Bush 1.0, Clinton, and Bush 2.0. What has been democratic about those administrations? The patriot act eroded civil liberties, the Regan years (which by the way when did Regan's policies become godly? Reganomics doesn't work!) of low taxes for the weathly (which happened again in the latest administration), and Clinton's NAFTA brilliance have done nothing for me. I am still middle to low income and my family is still low to middle income. I know consumerism. I know capitalism and the private sector, and I even know lobbyists and "special interests." But my vote as an adult has yet to count in an election (granted I was a silly idealist and voted for Nader my first time, but who hasn't done something idiotic right out of the gate?). Thanks to my college education, the change I think people can influence is on the supply and demand curve (well, also on expected values for market values of goods, but I digress...). So why should I think that democracy will make a difference?

Don't get me wrong- I LOVE democracy. I strongly believe in democracy. I am just becoming overwhlmingly skeptical that democracy actually exists in America anymore. So my tough question of the day is:

Is America still a democratic state or have we become a capitalistic state with the façade of democratic pratices?