> If people would care, learn about the issues and people, show up to local hearings, actually do things... I went to a local hearing once, about a proposal fo

> If people would care, learn about the issues and people, show up to local hearings, actually do things... I went to a local hearing once, about a proposal for a leisure centre to be built on some grass pitches in our town. At the meeting we were informed that we could not object to the proposal except on economic or environmental grounds. The effects on the living standards of local residents, and peoples' current use of the pitches, were irrelevant. The proposal passed, of course, because the economic benefit for the local government of a leisure centre is greater than some free-to-use pitches. That's why people are apathetic: everything is stacked against them and the only representation they can make is disregarded.