- According to Politico, 200 Million people were registered to vote in 2016.
- The number of voters who actually voted in 2016 were 58% of people registered, according to PBS. (roughly 116 Million voted, based off of Politico's numbers)
- The total population in the United States of America is over 325 Million according to World Meters.
Repeat, 209 Million, or 64% of the population did not vote in the 2016 United States Election.
*Updated Edit: Understandably, not everyone out of the 209 Million can vote due to legal status, age, etc. Let's just accept that those people still didn't or couldn't vote, thus were not technically able to represent their opinion.
That's a bit hard to swallow, isn't it? 36% of the population voted in America. Only 36% of Americans made their voice heard. Now we must ask the question, "why?"
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| EIC Ken Buckler displays his "I Voted" sticker |
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| Liberty Chronicle Independent's demographic is most read by Males 25 to 44. |
Do you remember the days when politics didn't matter to you? When life was just a normal, every day routine. You weren't aware of the laws that were being introduced, what rights were being taken away, not aware of what country was currently being bombed by the Military Industrial Complex. You were inside of your own bubble and the world seemed huge and out of reach. Many of us in the Liberty movement still consider ourselves beyond the grasp of it all, despite being a hobby or career to follow what's happening politically.
The numbers don't lie, a majority of people want to be left out of the political debacle. Life is easier admittedly, not knowing what horrific events have transpired in the world and what corrupt politicians are doing to advance a darker society, tightly ran by lobbyists and the global bankers with their interests in mind.
If you could hit the reset button and go back, would you? Being aware that those reading this article are among the 34% who likely did vote. Our viewership is for a specific audience when it comes to the political articles.
Life certainly is much less stressful when politics are put to the side or even ignored altogether. Life is already a struggle for many; so why make it even harder by worrying and knowing about what is beyond your control at times and even your comprehension of scale?
This is the issue that we face. We have over 209 Million people who actually could make a difference with their voice if they chose to. That's 209 Million people that don't exercise their right to vote and change things. The distractions of Social Media, Video Games, Movies, TV shows, YouTube, and many other things occupy their time. Not to say any of those things are bad, but they are distractions in the long run in comparison to the energy that could be invested in the future of humanity. Personally, this Editor does invest a lot of time into Politics due to the fact that so little do. In time, hopefully that will change as Social Media continues to evolve and inspire Millennials and others to become involved. We have seen over the last 8 years, how influential Social Media has become in elections across the globe, from Barack Obama being one of the first Presidential candidates to make heavy use of campaigning through online mediums, Bernie Sanders waking up Millennials to Cronyism and the "centipedes" helping get Donald Trump elected in 2016.
Since a record number of people were registered to vote in 2016, perhaps the trend will continue and more and more, we will have a younger generation that will constantly be in-tune to their country and change the dynamic of the political atmosphere that was widely ignored by the generation before.
Additional Reads: Millennials See Beyond Two Parties and Reject Insanity
This contribution is from Seattle-based independent journalist, David Malekar, Independent Associate Editor for the Liberty Chronicle Independent; who publishes content to the
WashCo Chronicle and other online publications.
