I work with "average Americans" every day, as they pass through court as parties, witnesses, attorneys, cops, etc. While I find that attorneys in general are more politically aware than the general public, in part because of the job, I must say that SADshooter is dead on. Every day, I hear conversations about America's Got Dancing Talent, or what Rachel Ray cooked on her show, or any dozens of things ranging from the Kardashians to Lyndsey Lohan, and every celebrity in between. Yet, if I mention "Fast and Furious" to most attorneys and staff, I get comments about the film, not the border debacle. Bring up politics, and the comments are invariably "I'm sick of politics," or "Who cares?" It's all about when the next sale is at the mall, what's on television, or what someone posted on Facebook. Jury pools are in many ways getting to be easier to seat, because once the initial uproar over a crime has died down, most people don't know what's going on, so it's easy to find jurors who know nothing of a case. And, many of those in power take advantage of the apathy to get and maintain their power (elections based on name recognition or party affiliation, as opposed to qualifications), and then use the power to achieve their goals. Look at some of the amendments that get attached to bills. The big bill gets the headline, while the devil in the details slips right on by, unnoticed.
The question that begs to be answered...how do you make people care about their freedoms, when all they really care about is what happened on The Voice last night...
