Recent events have caused our nation to re-examine several issues that had seemed to have dropped out of our collective awareness. Hurricane Katrina led to an increased focus on the fact that completely ignoring poverty has somehow failed to actually eliminate poverty. And, just this week, a riot in Toledo has sparked discussion of other issues.

Regular listeners of NPR's News and Notes with Ed Gordon program have probably noticed Mr. Gordon's assertion that one of the major factors leading to the riot is a sense of political powerlessness on the part of the participants. Pointing out that some of the rioters expressed their belief that life is "a game" and feel that they've got nothing to lose, Gordon has homed in on a major, yet rarely addressed, national issue.

Because, as other commentators on the program have pointed out, it's not just African-Americans who feel disconnected from the political process. There's a general sense, especially amongst young people, that they have no voice, and no power to influence national politics. And, in a way, they're absolutely right.

On the whole, individuals do not have much influence on the political process. Even when you consider the number of people in our massive bureaucratic government, thanks to partisanship and those inconvenient checks and balances written into the Constitution, those people lack the ability to single-handedly change the way business is done in America. Little wonder then that the average man or woman on the street doesn't have much say in their country's affairs.

This is nothing new. During the birth of the United States, you probably wouldn't have had much effect on events, unless you were a very small sub-set of the national population; rich, white, male—and even then, you might not have been invited to Philadelphia.

But, in spite of the fact that many individuals correctly believe that they have little power to change things, there's no reason for them to give up and abandon the political process. Ok, you can't personally bend the country to your will—so what? You're not completely powerless, you know.

The point is that disappointment in one's inability to personally shape public policy is a sign of an incredibly unrealistic world-view. Maybe it's the serious dearth of civics education in public schools, but many of us seemed to have forgotten that we live in a democracy; a political system in which power is deliberately spread around. The primary force is not individuals, per se; it's massive groups of people that make up the engine of political change.

It's an insult to our country's tradition of rugged individuality, this notion that we are powerless when alone, but that doesn't make it less true. There's a reason that the first priority of anybody who wants to change things is to gather as many of the people who agree with him or her as possible. Just as we refer to our political heros as leaders--a term that has numerical implications, because a leader must have followers in order to qualify for the title. It is amongst groups that we have the most impact. That is the path to influence and change.

This presents us with a problem. First, one has to overcome one's natural distaste of joining a group. There are very real dangers in identifying one's self as a member of an organization, leading to social consequences when other members of the group say something incredibly stupid on its behalf. One has to make nice with people one would rather not spend time with. (Like that guy who smells like onion soup mix, or that girl who has to leave the meeting early to check her attic for space aliens, annoying behaviors regardless of how much you agree with their thoughts on social justice or the flat tax.)

On top of all that, groups are so insufferably slow. Consensus building and recruitment take time. Lots of time. Dictatorships are fast and dangerous; democracies in which every decision is up for a vote, and every voice must be heard, are sluggish. They also tend to be unwieldy, so they can sometimes be dangerous too.

Yet, in spite of these problems, there's a very good reason that there's still so many organizations out there: They work. What's more, aside from money, breeding, and connections, they're just about the only things that do.

In order to combat the growing sense of disconnection from the political process that people feel, they're going to have to reshape their own expectations. Stop worrying about the fact that you have almost no control over what happens to your country. If you want to make a difference, use that right you've been given to peaceably assemble and join something. And don't expect to reap the benefits of all your hard work and bask in the knowledge that your grandkids will live in a better world.

Still don't feel like getting involved? That's ok. All those folks you disagree with will be happy to do it.

-B. C. Silvia
-10/19/05