Who cares about politics?

I would like to thank Al Mollo for his arrogant, elitist commentary "College students on politics in the Feb. 8 Wildcat.. He basically states that some college students, or Americans in general, are ignorant of this nation's political events and therefore their mental competence is suspect, "...one cannot help but question the influence of the opinion of an individual who thinks Hillary Clinton will be president should her husband be removed."

Mr. Mollo seems to think that Americans should make some effort to attain knowledge of their government structure and related events out of some sense of civic duty, or because these are "historic events." Historic? Ha! Never mind that history is relative, written by those who win wars. Do you know who the emperor of Rome was in 200 A.D.? (By this time, emperors were beginning to be removed from office regularly). How many people do? How relevant is it?

But the question remains: Why are so many Americans seemingly un-interested in current events? Why, or why are they not interested in the inner workings of something so mundane, uncreative and unproductive as government? Maybe they recognize that the U.S. government seems to take the same basic course regardless of which Democrat or Republican is at the helm. Maybe most Americans are disgusted by politics in general, and all the lying, self-serving sophists, er, lawyers it seems to attract. Maybe Americans are somewhat disinterested in government because it is filled with people who share Mr. Mollo's view that they are more "enlightened" and intelligent than the average American; more specifically, people who believe they are qualified to make decisions that will forcefully affect the lives of individuals they have never even met.

The article concludes by saying that we live in a great nation, and that there are people in this world that would give anything to live in a nation like ours. I would like to add that our nation has never been great because of its government, but rather it has always been great in spite of its government.

Jon Arden
Ag-biosystems engineering junior