The Greatest Threat to the United States of America (Part 2)

Last week, in Part 1 of this post, I asked you to guess what the greatest threat to the United States of America is and gave you three chances to try and get it right. I also bet you that you would get it wrong. I even helped narrow your choices by providing a long list of potential threats that I stated are NOT the greatest threat to the United States.

Today you get to find out if you were right or not. If you haven’t made your three guesses yet, do so now before you read the rest of this post.

Are you ready for it? The greatest threat to the United States of America is:

Drum Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

APATHY!

Are you surprised by the answer? Did you guess correctly? Do you even care (just kidding – but then, isn’t that what apathy is, anyway)?

Webster’s dictionary provides two definitions for Apathy: (1) a lack of feeling or emotion; (2) a lack of interest or concern. It is the second definition that I am referring to – a lack of interest or concern.

And while Apathy by itself is completely passive and in a perfect world would cause no harm on its own, we unfortunately live in an imperfect world in which evil, if left unchecked because of Apathy, will take root, grow and spread, and conquer everything in its path.

It is Apathy on the part of millions upon millions of Americans that is the greatest threat to the United States of America.

So, let me give you a few examples and statistics (I just can’t seem to get away from those damned statistics) of why I believe that Apathy is the greatest threat to the United States of America.

In the 2020 US presidential election an estimated 161 million Americans voted, the most in US history, and the highest voter participation rate since 1900. But with an estimated 239.2 million registered voters, just 66.8% of eligible voters (persons of voting age) participated. If you account for the millions of illegal votes cast, the participation rate was actually much lower.

Let that sink in. In what was arguably one of the most important elections in the history of the United States, one in three eligible voters did not bother to vote. One in three! But it gets worse.

Voter participation rates for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 elections were 62.2%, 58.6% and 60.2%, respectively. When compared to the latest voting records of 32 other developed countries, the United States finished in 26th place (bottom 25%) while the top eight countries (top 25%) had voter participation rates greater than 75%, with Belgium in 1st place with a voter participation rate of 87.2%.

US mid-term (non-presidential election year) elections, such as the upcoming election in November 2022, typically see even lower voter participation rates, often below 50%. But once again, it gets even worse. US voter participation rates for state and local elections, especially primary and run-off elections, often drop into the teens, and sometimes into single digits.

For the United States of America, the country that paved the way for all other developed countries, this is not only embarrassing, it is unacceptable.

In contrast, many of the potential threats I listed in Part 1 of this post are constantly engaged, constantly trying to find a weakness in our defenses, constantly trying to impose their ideas and ideals on us, constantly emboldened by our Apathy. It is Apathy that is the problem. It is because of our Apathy that these other threats exist.

So, let me ask you a few questions:

• Did you vote in the 2020 presidential election?

• Did you vote in your state primaries or runoff elections?

• Do you know who your US Congressman/woman and US Senators are?

• Do you know who the Speaker of the US House of Representatives is?

• Do you know who the Senate Majority Leader is? The Senate Minority Leader?

• Do you know who the Lt. Governor or Attorney General of your state is?

• Do you know who your State Congressman/woman and State Senator are?

• Do you know who your County Judge is? Your Precinct Commissioner?

• Do you know who your County Sherriff is? Your Constable?

• Do you know who your City Councilman/woman is?

• Do you know who the members of your local school board are?

• Do you know who the head of your Home Owners Association is?

• Have you have ever called, e-mailed or written your US Congressman/woman or Senators?

• Have you have ever called, e-mailed or written your Texas Congressman/woman or Senator?

• Have you ever attended a city council, school board, HOA, or Commissioners’ Court meeting? Even better, have you ever spoken up at any of these meetings?

Surprised by your answers? Now let me ask you a few more questions:

• Do you know who is playing in the World Series?

• Do you know who won Super Bowl LV?

• Do you know who the latest winner of “American Idol” is?

• Do you know who the latest winner of “The Voice” is?

• Do you know who the latest winner of “America’s Got Talent” is?

• Do you know who the latest winner of the “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” is?

• Do you know how many followers Taylor Swift has on Twitter?

• Do you keep up with the Kardashians?

I could go on and on but I think I’ve made my point.

We Americans tend to know a lot about things that interest us but in the grand scheme of things don’t really matter, while we tend to be uninterested in or unconcerned about of many of the things that are important and do matter. It is this lack of interest and concern, this Apathy on the part of so many Americans, that frightens me the most.

If you are unhappy with the current state of affairs, if you are concerned about the direction our country is headed, if you are worried about your future and the future of your children and grandchildren, and you are not actively engaged in doing something about it, YOU are part of the problem.

YOUR Apathy, along with the Apathy of millions of other Americans, IS the greatest threat to the United States of America!

So, now that you know what the greatest threat to the Unites States of America is, what can you do about it? Read Part 3 of this post next week to find out.