In an effort to be a good granddaughter, I called my grandfather the other day. I started to drift off, when suddenly, he said something that grabbed my attention: “Child, don’t get into politics. It’s a giant swamp, it’s worse than the gutter. They make a career not caring about others.”

Although unused to that level of imagery, I was used to that level of political cynicism. But then he said, “no one cares about the nation.” And with that single sentence, he shocked me. Sure, we are pessimistic about politics, especially when a party we dislike holds power. However, I always believed most, including my grandfather, recognized the possibility of good in politics. But his statement that “no one” believed in this potential begged to differ. I realized then that being deeply cynical about politics had become the new normal.

This experience led me to wonder where these sentiments come from. After some thought and research, I came up with a few potential explanations. The first is that cynicism helps us avoid a bad case of nihilism. Regardless of country, we can all recall corruption scandals, financial mismanagement, manipulative campaigns, and compromising politicians willing to do anything to get elected. The lack of accountability aggravates this problem. We see that politicians not only get away with misdeeds but also that they have no incentive to correct their behavior. It’s easy to feel that politics is meaningless. Cynicism, however, desensitizes us to political wrongdoings. If we expect to be disappointed, then we are not fazed when disappointing revelations about politics arise.

Second, negative campaigning fuels cynicism. Negative campaigning is when a candidate or party spreads negative information about the opposing party or candidate to bolster their own platform. In short, it encourages voters to vote against something instead of for something. Negative campaigning is popular because it is easier to rally the masses around critiques of a policy or public figure than to garner true belief in a leader. Ultimately every leader and policy has flaws, and it is in human nature to criticize rather than be optimistic. Moreover, since political parties, especially in two-party systems, often fail to represent people adequately, voters are left to vote against candidates rather than for them—further inclining them to believe the worst of politics. Take American politics as an example - the Democrats spend most of their time critiquing whatever Trump did this week while the Republicans dangle the spectre of socialism and transitioning to gain support.

Failing to recognize the daily successes of government (and by extension politics) further feeds into political cynicism. We take for granted all the ways in which government runs smoothly. This means we only “wake up” when a scandal breaks out, making it the issue that remains the most vivid in our mind and causing us to forget about all the successful political actions we might have witnessed before. This phenomenon is amplified by the fact that for journalists, it is much easier and more meaningful to analyze and investigate wrongdoings (the way I am doing right now); after all no one likes reading reports on the mundane successes of public transport or the banking system. Moreover, this hyperfocus on government failures begets more cynicism. As mentioned earlier, political cynicism desensitizes us to wrongdoings and scandals. So, when we perceive overwhelmingly more failures than successes, we only become further cynical to insulate ourselves from our disappointment in government.

Lastly, our disillusionment with politics can be attributed to the persistence of the status quo. Most governments prefer not to enact significant reforms, whether that be due to political challenges (like the need for broad coalitions) or convenience. The convenience of inaction is particularly dangerous—and an easy trap to fall into. If politicians do nothing, they do not risk disappointing or alienating voters and political donors. The consequences of political inaction are aggravated by the countless empty promises politicians make every election cycle. We citizens start to believe in a better future, only to understand nothing or only a fragment of these promises will get done. This again leads to cynicism and mistrust in the promises politicians make. I believe one of the fundamental reasons why the populist governing party in Poland, Law and Justice, remains popular is that it effectively fulfilled its promises. For example, it enacted the budget-heavy “500+ program”, which gives 100 euro per child to families each month, and restricted abortion rights. Law and Justice promised change, and it delivered. This stands in stark contrast to previous governments that failed to pass remarkable flagship policies.

So, where does this political cynicism lead us?

The first obvious answer is disengagement. Every year we complain about low voter turnouts, and most people who are politically inactive cite politics as meaningless as well as their lack of trust in the government and corruption in politics as reasons for their low engagement.

Second, cynicism develops an indifference towards scandals, another form of disengagement. When we hear about scandal after scandal, it’s easy to grow numb to them all. This could be observed in the Trump years: while some felt deeply upset about his actions, most people grew to accept them with the statement, “it’s just Trump.” However, this attitude encourages voters to overlook and accept scandals, widening the scope of unethical actions that are acceptable in politics and thus making politicians even less accountable.

What’s more, the constant barrage of scandals, not buoyed by positive news stories, leads citizens to not only dismiss them, but also question their credibility. When a partisan TV station or newspaper reports on yet another story of misconduct, half of the electorate will dismiss it as hearsay. Rather than seeing it as a valuable piece of journalism, they consider it a partisan attack—as one side trying to nitpick the other.

Cynicism also undermines the legitimacy of governments. Since we constantly hear about the wrongdoings of our politicians (as opposed to stories to the contrary, which do not get our attention - the good intentions, good actions, good politicians), we have no reason to believe in government. One of the dangers posed by this could be observed during COVID-19 pandemic. People inevitably question the authorities, but during the pandemic we saw unprecedented levels of mistrust globally—not only in government but also in apolitical state-funded medical institutions. The danger that comes with low trust in governments is exemplified in this statistic: “if all societies had trust in government at least as high as Denmark (which is the 75th percentile) the world would have experienced 13% fewer infections.”

Lastly, cynicism contributes to populism. Cynicism is the belief that things will not get better - and this gives populists something to tap into. A feeling of frustration and disillusionment with the status quo drives people to trust the fresh, new, anti-establishment candidates promising a better future—the populists.

Dismissing politics erodes democracy. Cynicism makes citizens passive participants in politics, indifferent to corruption, and increasingly antagonistic with opposing parties. Rather than tapping into our cynical instincts, let’s observe and analyze what is actually happening. Perhaps even those we disagree with have redeeming qualities. If we engage with politics and believe in the possibility of change, we relight the candle of belief in a better future.