Apathy in Texas

Apathy about our government in the United States has become a very serious issue. Fewer people are getting involved in the decisions made in that affect our every day lives. This is true for us as a country, and even more locally with our state and local government. Two questions I would like to answer are : What about our Texas culture contributes to lack of participation in our government? How does this lack of participation affect our lives?

Hospitality and acts of kindness are common here in Texas. I would say there is a much more laid back attitude than in the northern part of the United States. I wonder if our laid back culture here in Texas has a part to do with our apathy in the government. I think what we have done here is taken his facet of Southern culture and taken it to an extreme. We would much rather just stay at home and watch sports than watch c span. I don’t blame anyone for picking sports over politics. We must however, be willing to sacrifice a little bit of comfort for the good of Texas. According to Vista Online, “If everyone would devote just two hours a year and attend one local government meeting, every local government meeting would have someone watching them.” This can affect our lives in numerous ways. We are less informed about what our elected officials are doing with our tax money. We are in general just less informed about the changes taking place in our community. Worst of all, we are never in a position to effect the decisions our congressman make if we don’t know what decisions they have been making. It is time for us as Texans to take responsibility for our state and start getting more involved with politics in Texas.