While I continue to play with my promised post on social conservatism, I’m going to weigh in on Aaron’s question from yesterday (why aren’t more Americans angry about Congress’s pay raise?) because the answer(s) touch on a number of issues Republicans should think about for 2009.

Very broadly, people aren’t angry because people aren’t involved. Check out civic engagement stats or just ask around. (I’ll tell you now: the latter is infinitely more interesting—and offers much more complex a story.) Whenever I talk to people about politics, I ask them about their civic involvement. Do they follow the news? Vote? Call Congress? Know who their members of Congress are? Donate money? Stand out in the rain on Election Day? Why or why not? The answers—overwhelmingly “why nots”–are riffs on the same theme: I don’t have the time to keep track of the crooks in DC and even if I did, my voice doesn’t matter much anyway.

This line of thinking offers three interrelated reasons that people don’t care about Congressional pay raises.

Reason #1: People (and this is normal, socially-adjusted people—not political geeks) are overwhelmed with information. They have jobs, friends, families, hobbies, and all sorts of other obligations. Seeking out political information is another item on the to-do list; and, to accomplish that task, many will rely on mainstream (online and offline) news sources/aggregators. Get in, get the big story quickly, and get out.

This is particularly troublesome for niche issues (think spotted owls), complex issues (think financial crisis), and routine issues (think annual Congressional pay raises). Most people just won’t see/hear/learn about them.

Reason #2: News on issues on pay raises and pork-barrel spending—the perpetual whipping boys—lags. We don’t hear about the deed until it’s done, when it’s (almost always) too late to do anything about it. It’s easy to talk about what a boondoggle spending $X million to study the role of Uggs in the economy was. But that hasn’t changed the fact that we just wasted $X million. So as pundits attempt to top each other with mixed metaphors and fiscal conservatives predict the nation’s end …nothing actually happens.

Reason #3: Most people don’t think they can do anything to change the outcome. This is a product of, among many things, post-Watergate cynicism, weighing the power of one voice in thousands, and forgetfulness about the power of public opinion. Plus, it feeds off reason #2. Hearing about all the dumb things Congress is doing with your money, and then hearing you can’t do anything about it, is disheartening. Really disheartening.

Of course I’ve just presented the perennial problems of politics and political involvement. If there were an easy solution, someone wiser, more credential, and better-paid (okay, paid period) would have produced it. But I’m sick of waiting.

What is the ideal system of distributing information and encouraging activism? What’s your favorite tool to keep track of government (mine is Washington Watch)? How could it be integrated with others? What stops you from taking the next step in affecting government policy? How could that be fixed?

Let’s try to fix the system by breaking it down one step at a time.

Last 5 posts by Abby Alger

• Helping the Right Online, One PDF at a Time - March 29th, 2009
• Kids These Days - March 17th, 2009
• In which I browse HR 1105, so you don't have to. - February 24th, 2009
• Re: Attacking Obama - February 5th, 2009
• What does youth voter outreach look like? - January 11th, 2009