Since a strong civil society means that more people are actively involved in their communities and have the chance to discuss politics more often than not, a decrease in this strength results in less people identifying with their communities and taking less of an interest in outside matters, such as politics. Voluntary associations allow people to openly discuss politics and learn more about current issues and campaigns from each other. Since the US civil society has continued to decline these past decades, individual activities have increased and this kind of discussion has decreased, resulting in a loss of political participation.
The decline in political participation is primarily focused on the lack of voting. The results of nonvoting do show that our country would have many different policy procedures if nonvoters showed up to the polls. A poll taken in 1987 reveals that nonvoters are "more in favor of an increased government role in the domestic arena" (Implications of Nonvoting, 793). The survey goes on to prove many other policy issues disagreed upon by voters and nonvoters. One significant issue under concern is the difference in opinions over government spending. Nonvoters clearly opted for more government spending on several domestic programs than did voters. However, I believe the most significant issue presented by this survey is the fact that on most of the question nonvoters were 10-15% more likely to not know or not have an opinion (Implications of Nonvoting, 783-84). The lack of knowledge or interest represents too large of a display of individualism in society to the point where many citizens have completely drawn themselves away from public life of any sort. .
The large representation of individualism has surfaced to become a main opposition to political participation and has drawn many citizens away from the one common ground we all share with each other. Democracy and our collective liberty are the unity that holds our nation together.
