Our views: Make a resolution to pay attention | The Olympian

If you're still looking to make a New Year's resolution, how about resolving this year to pay more attention?

We kid you not. News programs are on television 24 hours a day, and virtually every newspaper in the world is a click away on your computer. Still, many people don't vote, and many are unaware of relatively major issues. There also is great confusion among the populace, for instance, on where the differing responsibilities of local, state and federal governments begin and end.

This is no way to run a democracy.

Not paying attention can have consequences far greater than not understanding the machinery of government. It can produce crooks in government. ...

Curiously, one reason many people say they don't vote is because "all politicians are crooks." Cynicism is good, but quite candidly, being overly cynical is foolish. All politicians are not crooks. In fact, most of them aren't. Those who drop out of the system on a belief that all politicians are bums make it more likely that bums will be elected. That's because they're not around to vote against them.

The above editorial excerpt is from The Daily Record, Parsippany, N.J.