I’m of the belief that our political system is broken. Until we get rid of gerrymandering and big money in politics, we won’t have a government that truly reflects the will of the people. I think this opinion has support from all political persuasions. That said, we can stick our heads in the sand or we can accept the fact that the system we have is flawed, but if we care about government policy, we need to learn how the game is played. Two things elect our leaders and ultimately establish government policy: votes and money – and if you want to make a difference, you need to express yourself with both.
I read a study recently that showed Latinos of all income levels under-invest in politics. In other words, we don’t give money to the candidates who share our political views. I don’t think this reflects ambivalence but rather a lack of understanding of how things work in our society. The concept of one person = one vote is no longer true. So if you think that our government policies favor the privileged few – you’re probably right. People who have money and make political donations have much more power than people who don’t. That’s just a fact. So, we have two choices; complain or participate.
