This story in the El Paso Inc. reports that the city’s election participation rate is the worst in Texas. About twenty percent of registered voters cast ballots in the last election.
We’re not stupid. El Pasoans aren’t going to legitimize, through participation in, a system that consistently rewards private interests at the expense of the public.
We’re tired of getting our hearts broken by well-spoken politicians who turn out to be craven thugs. If you keep getting cheated, eventually you quit playing the game.
Of the twenty percent that vote, probably half benefit from government largess. The other ten percent are idealists who believe than can make a change.
I vote because most candidates send out flyers only to the people that vote, and I like to evaluate their propaganda.