Empathy vs. Apathy
Today my granddaughters asked me who my biggest competition was in the US Senate election? I told them the two who won the primary elections. Andrews and Graham. But then I told them who my biggest competitor really is. It is apathy. There are 3.4 million voters in SC. Less than 1 in 4 vote in primaries. The question is why?
After talking with thousands of people in the last 4 months I have heard a list of reasons why voter turnout is so low. 1. My vote doesn’t matter. 2. I don’t like any of the candidates. 3. Neither party aligns with me. 4. Why bother, it’s all fixed. 5. I don’t like politics. 6. It is too hard. 7. I don’t register because I don’t want to serve on a jury. 8. I’m not interested. 9. I don’t have time. 10. I forgot.
It is ironic that we observe Memorial Day, honoring the millions who died in combat so we could be free, then don’t vote. But, I can’t blame folks. My experience running as an independent shows all of the above are valid reasons for not voting. The system is really messed up. Here’s how.
As an independent I have to get 10,000 valid signatures. On a form no one can print. With fields on the form no one knows how to fill. One sheet per county. Legible. (that’s a big one!). We have thousands of signatures. But I feel sure the Election Commission, made up of party loyalists, will find a way to keep me off the ballot.
The media is entirely pay-to-play. As a citizen representative candidate who is taking no donations, and spending little, this is a major hurdle. Social media is pay to play. If you post, they control who sees it unless you pay money. For $42, they will send a post to 6 groups of their choosing.
Local radio is the same thing. $85 gets you one play. $1500 gets you play across many stations, with 80.000 exposures. If you don’t pay you don’t exist, unless you get arrested, that would be news.
Local TV is worse. They give free coverage to incumbents to suck up. Incumbants are a big source of revenue. Why? Because they get lots of money from out of state. If you are an independent candidate, whose currency is ideas, you will be completely ignored.
Local newspapers? Same thing. Except they are already irrelevant. Little local reporting. Publishing things their owners tell them to publish. As a journalism major, I find this particularly sad.
So where’s the hope? I see it. It is young. People not pickled in the party juice. People who look for ideas, new ideas, knowing the status quo sucks. 20 to 45 year olds will save this country. The Boomer voters in primaries are all steeped in the juice.
Let’s face it. Elections are bought. The parties are money sucking mobsters. Both of them. All of them. Even the small ones you never heard of. I have been engaged with the big ones and the emerging ones. They all want money. And disciples. And people who want to run now and in the future for office. Unelected lifetime politicians.
Americans can do better. On our 250th anniversary this year, remember this word. Independence. We are independent. As people. As a country. We can enact term limits. We can elect citizen representatives instead of lifetime politicians or people who give up everything just to be political.
I have a limited time to deliver my message. This is my message. It’s not lengthy.
Term limits matter for Congress and the Supreme Court. Politicians should face severe penalties if their household gets rich while in office. PACs and out of state donations should be illegal. Immigration should be controlled based on need, borders should be secure, and convicted non-citizens should be deported without appeals. Basic wellness care should be provided to all citizens with no copay to cost effectively address issues before they turn into a publicly funded catastrophe. Personal data should be owned by citizens, and spam and cybercrime should stop. No one should be able to spend taxpayer dollars without limits and controls. We need a balanced budget. End of message.
Both parties spend without regard to debt. Both parties approve debt ceiling increases annually, but never approve a budget on time. Both parties waste time on investigations of each other. In short, both parties suck.
If you want another option try this…..I am running as an independent. I need to climb a mountain to get on the ballot. You can help. Provide your signature, printed name and address on a goofy sized ballot petition in the next few weeks. I will represent the ideas above. If that is you, please help. If you need a goofy sized ballot petition, go to donforussenate.com and request one.
Empathy means I care. Apathy means I don’t care. Please care.
By Don Louis · Published 2026-06-11