We The Public

The definition of public life is the public service of an elected or appointed government official (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/public+life). Knowing what public life is, it allows us as individual Americans to critique the work that those we have elected have done up to this point and time. As I stated in my comment in regards to Dr. Macek's prompt, I felt that people in my generation do not take enough ownership in understanding politics in this country. By not getting involved, or at the very least having an understanding about how politics in this country work, we are letting our politicians off the hook in terms of public discourse. Politicians tend to say what people want to hear, as opposed to the hard truth, such as our economy is in the toilet and we must find ways of turning it around. By letting politicians off the hook and not holding them accountable, we are making the realms of the 'public sphere' less meaningful. For the public sphere to be meaningful, we must hold our politicians to a very high standard, and by doing so we will be reaping the benefits of meaningful and important discussions and debates out of different public sphere's. As individuals we need to pay more attention to politics not only in the United States but around the world, because at this point in our lives 'ignorance is not bliss'.