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Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

Herb Opalek: Merced's 1% solution

Some of you might remember the 1976 movie, "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution," where Dr. Watson tricks Sherlock Holmes into visiting Vienna and entering the psychiatric care of the equally famous Dr. Sigmund Freud.

The film was a subject of discussion at many a water cooler.

Merced just had its own thriller as reflected in our just completed local election.

It was our own one percent solution; wherein roughly only one percent of our citizens voted in the mayoral and city council election.

Yes, it is true that this was an off-year election and voting is always low when there are no national or state issues to decide.

But, I ask, why only one percent?

Merced is undergoing tough times economically.

Houses are still being foreclosed and jobs are still being lost. Winter is coming and there is no adequate solution for those homeless still out there in camps, streets and under the bridges. It is of major import as to who will lead this city of ours out of this morass.

And only one percent bothered to cast their ballots?

What will happen over the next months if the majority of our citizenry does not begin to engage in finding fair and honest solutions to Merced's woes? In the case of homelessness, there are hungry and hurting fellow citizens out there to care for and time is indeed running out.

Apathy is not a solution. It is easy to stand back and critique rather than engage

There are municipalities that are considering compulsory voting to overcome sluggish voter turnout but I do not believe that forcing someone to vote will get citizens to really participate.

We need to do a better job at educating the electorate. The turnout in Merced at election debates does not attract many people and are pathetic in their content. We need to focus on the predominant issues of concern through in-depth articles, question-and-answer sessions and guest speakers.

Canada has this great Web site, apathyisboring.com, that promotes interest in all types of issues. It is one of the more highly viewed URLs in that country. We need more creativity of this type right here in Merced.

Voting and active participation in the process are great privileges in a democracy. We abuse our freedom and rights when we sit back and do not vote. A friend reminded me that there are U.S. soldiers in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan who are dying so that we can exercise our right to vote.

Apathy is not limited to the polling booth. Forbes Magazine reports a Gallup survey from March 2008 wherein 34 percent of respondents told interviewers they worried a great deal about global warming.

When the Pew Research Center asked respondents to list top priorities for President Obama and Congress the global warming issue ranked last. Given all the media coverage and political hoopla global warming has received we must ask -- why aren't more Americans concerned about this issue. The answer, of course, is apathy.

In Merced, apathy need not be a major concern. The Community Benefit Organization and nonprofits are beginning to work well with city and county. The holidays are coming up and the historical record shows that Mercedians rise to the challenge of helping those who are less fortunate.

While the Rescue Mission has only received two donated turkeys, we are not panicking. When it comes to core issues of humanity there is no apathy in Merced.

We will serve some 5,000 people plus during the holiday season and we can do this because our fellow citizens show up at a greater percentage than did those who voted in the last election.

It is pathetic that we don't realize that our votes make a difference. Perhaps next election things will change. There is always hope and faith

Herbert A. Opalek is CEO of the Merced County Rescue Mission.