European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A tax protester in Fargo  wheeled on a mail cart to a a will take him to Cass county Brakke was arrested by . Marshals for hauling impound Grain from a farm near Horae citizenship fades As americans disconnect a Happy apathy president Bush a inaugural address was an exhortation to americans to turn away from material self interest. Was anyone listening by Paul Taylor Washington Post b jul m hat if they held an election and b my m nobody came this Tali an estimated 110 million to 120 it million americans nearly two thirds of the electorate will not vote a the largest group of non voters in . History. What if they took a census and nobody stood up to be counted this Spring 33 million american households did not Send Back their forms. The 63 percent mail Back rate is a dozen Points lower than government officials had expected. A preliminary review suggests that most of the problem is not in poor communities where the census Bureau had conducted an intensive promotional Campaign but in Middle class communities where it had not thought promotion was necessary. What if they sent out tax forms and nobody paid this year for every $5 in Federal taxes owed $1 is being evaded a mostly by sole proprietors and Small businesses the annual tax Gap is expected to exceed $100 billion for the first time Ever according to the internal Revenue service. The voting Booth the census form and the tax return Are among the few civic venues where the Federal government asks its citizens to take part in the ongoing Enterprise of Public life and now More than Ever americans Are declining the invitation. At a time when democracy is flourishing around the Globe it is losing Market share in the United states. Quot i get so embarrassed when i see elections in Central America where you can get shot by either the left or the right for voting and yet they vote at twice the rate we do in this country Quot said rep. Bill Frenzel a Minn. Quot i think that As a society we re going through a scattering of what used to be called National purpose. At one time this country had a Manifest destiny. Nowadays everyone is chasing a different  Quot clearly we have something of great interest going on Here and it sounds to me like what we be got is a collective National morale problem Quot said Walter Dean Burnham a professor of government at the University of Texas. Quot for a lot of americans there is no longer a moral distinction Between those who choose to be involved and those who done to Quot said Geoffrey Garin a democratic pollster who has done extensive research on citizenship Quot people done to feel any sense of ownership Over the Federal government. It Isnit them and it in t  As these varied observations suggest explanations for the decline in civic participation Cut a wide Swath across the realms of ideology sociology and history. Among them a it is a byproduct of a Long season in which antigovernment populism has been the reigning political idea. This is a favorite theory of liberals and it implicates former president Ronald Reagan As the villain. Sen. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., says Reagan used the Oval office to Issue a Quot summons to selfishness and Garin says his message was that Quot you can love your country but hate your  liberals also blame Reagan s Laisnez Faire economic policies for making the poor poorer and less tethered to the civic order. They note that the drop off in voting Over the last three decades has occurred disproportionately among these least Well off americans. Quot i would think there is something to the proposition Thal we have had this enormous pig out atmosphere in the Pas decade and it has created a morale problem for everyone not invited to the Barbecue Quot said Burnham. A it is the result of the Long term weakening of the political parties. In virtually every other democracy around the world political parties still play the vital Rote in delivering political information and mobilizing citizen participation. Quot in this country our parties can no longer punch their Way out of i paper sack a said Frenzel who will retire next year after 2 years in Congress. Quot when i was first elected the most powerful political forces in my state were the democrats and the republicans. Now they Are the minnesotans for life the Al Cio and the National education association. They a Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday iks tame s my up iut hems. Piave legitimate claims on the process but All of them operate under a much smaller umbrella than the  i it is the result of wholesale failures of government for lie past Quarter Century. The list is familiar Vietnam watergate inflation Standard of living stagnation Gas lines budget and Trade deficits these setbacks have been magnified by Media Mare both More adversarial and As a result of television More pervasive than Ever before. Quot if the message people get is that politics is All about Mies and corruption and hypocrisy it should be no Surprise that they Are going to develop a a voting just encourages Ems sort of cynicism Quot said Garry Orren a professor of Public policy at Harvard a Kennedy school of government. Get so embarrassed when i see elections in Central America where you can get shot for voting and yet they vote at twice the rate we do in this country. A rep. Bill Frenzel a Minn. A it is the result of the atomization of the popular culture the segmenting of the population by forces of modern Felting and technology into demographic ghettos each a tits own Cable Channel prime time television show my mall and consumer Magazine and none with a Felt need to connect up to the broader Community. A a result of americans loss of Faith in the future. Nations turn inward when they lose their self Confidence. H c0riorri c position relative to the rest of the worlds been declining for a generation. Our political Structure is ossified in Hock to special interests and unable to be a budget much less confront the larger problems Urnham Calls it a Quot revolution of declining expectations Quot to people demand from their government the less a get the More they drop out. And people say i have no vision Delta thu th3ppv Apa Hyp and 11 is a a heal Hier development than the naysayers suggest. This is a favorite theory of conservatives who note that while participation May have atrophied at the Federal level it is vibrant and growing at the local level where a volunteerism charitable giving and neighbourhood associations Are on the Rise. A it s Only people inside the Beltway who think government and politics is the most important Way to participate in America Quot said Burton Yale Pines executive vice president of the heritage foundation a conservative think tank. I see it As an inverse indicator. When people Are upset they get involved. When they re not upset they drop out to a degree. As a conservative i m much More interested in parents going to Pat meetings that s  none of the theories is without flaws. Just As the Liberal critique fails to account for the degree to which Reagan was a creature rather than a creator of the antigovernment Era the conservative explanation fails to account for polling data that shows that non voters Are among the least Content members of the electorate. There is a Strong a and growing a class dimension to non voting. People in the highest 20 percent of income Are almost twice As Likely to vote As people in the lowest 20 percent. Poor people tend to be most cynical about and least connected to a the  Ruy Teixeira a leading authority on non voting cites the decline in what he Calls Quot political Efficacy Quot As the chief cause of the drop in voter turnout in presidential campaigns from a modern High of 63 percent in 1960 to a 64-year Low of 50.2 percent in 1988. Turnout rates in off year elections Are even lower in 1986, it was 37.6 percent the lowest since 1942. Garin marvels at How profound this feeling of disconnection can be. A in focus group discussions when we bring up the Cost of the savings and Loans bailout we often hear people say a Why do the taxpayers have to come up with the Money Why can t the government a Quot disconnection can easily sour into hostility. The Low return rate on census forms and the High incidence of tax avoidance both seem in part to be expressions of anger at government. Quot a lot of people who Don t pay their taxes feel like All they Are doing is getting even Quot Garin said. Quot they feel like the system is rigged a that somebody else has been getting All the Breaks and that they re the victim a there is another explanation for the growth in tax avoidance the Federal government has slashed funding for the irs to the level that fewer than one percent of All returns were audited last year a modern Low. When Michael s. Dukakis tried to make an Issue of this in 1988, George Bush ridiculed him for advocating Quot an irs agent in every  in general though president Bush has paid much More attention to the idea of civic participation than did his predecessor. His inaugural address was an elegant exhortation to americans turn away from material self interest. A from now on in America any definition of a successful life must include serving others Quot he said last year As he set up a a Points of Light Quot initiative that encourages volunteerism at by Bush critics think this is the equivalent of Quot cheap race Quot in the phrase of new York gov. Marie it m. Cuomo. A it creates a very Peculiar dynamic when the leaders we elect to perform the Public tasks that Are too Large for us to do by ourselves Tell us that these tasks Are worthy but that we should accomplish them by our own altruism Quot said Benjamin Barber a professor of political science at Rutgers University. Quot altruism in t enough when the problems Are structural and will Only respond to structural solutions altruism in t citizenship and Thoro is some harm when we confuse the  in the Long run Barber added the danger is that As the ties that bind a big and pluralistic nation corrode we will Lack the sense of common purpose to respond to Groat challenges. Quot one of the things we be Lound from our research is that Young people in particular have an impoverished notion of citizenship Quot said Sanford Horwitt director of a citizen participation project at people for the american Way. Quot basically they think it s not breaking the Law and that s All. I Don t think they have been Well served by the adult world. Unless these values Are passed along they disappear. And a democracy that does not value citizenship is not a very healthy  critics blame president Reagan a economic policies for making the poor poorer and less tethered to the civic order. N. 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 15