RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES AHEAD

A Seattle Times Independence Day editorial suggested that elections run best when more of us participate, yet there is now evidence of apathy creeping up in the age scale beyond the 20s to the 30s to the early 40s, not good news for civic involvement, civic health, or of course elections.

Now the younger people often won’t even vote.

Apathetic 20-somethings typically get more involved after they land a job, marry, have children, and buy a house.  But new research data shows a disinterest in civic engagement persisting much longer. 

The trend dovetails with and exacerbates the drop in participation in civic life supposedly brought on by more women working, television, the computer, suburban design, and longer commutes. 

Americans are increasingly separate from family, friends, neighbors, and democratic structures.  Fewer of us attend club meetings, have friends over and make time for family dinners.

 Need more?

A report out of Washington, D.C. July 5th suggests that the popularity of electronic media could be the death knell for tourism at U.S. national parks, according to a study in the July edition of the Journal of Environmental Management.  It looks like the fact more Americans are spending much more time watching movies, surfing the Internet, and playing video games, as well as the cost of gas, will drop future total visits to the parks.

So, difficulties recruiting new members in large part are strategic rather than local structural issues, and it’s making it much harder for many California chapters to recruit new members.

 Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, says, “…compared with our recent past, we are less connected.  We remain interested and critical spectators of the public scene.  We kibitz, but we don’t play.  We maintain a facade of formal affiliation, but we rarely show up.  We have invented new ways of expressing our demands that demand less of us.  We are less likely to turn out for collective deliberation–whether in the voting booth or in the meeting hall–and when we do, we find that discouragingly few of our friends and neighbors have shown up.  We are less generous with our money and (with the important exception of senior citizens) with our time, and we are less likely to give strangers the benefit of the doubt.  They, of course, return the favor.”

Too bad.  The author goes on to say that civic engagement makes us healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Add to this situation the fact so many military and naval installations in our chapter areas have closed and local Reservists are being deployed multiple numbers of times, leading to problems with individuals and families, and it’s easy to understand the lack of interest in MOAA and local chapter membership, something which is a very low priority with many active duty, Reserve members and veterans.

What’s the response to all this?  What can and should we do, if anything, to keep chapter membership and active participation numbers up and growing?

This might be an issue for consideration and discussion at the upcoming Council “Rally” in Sacramento.   

Comments RSS