Frustrated with people who don't make politics a priority...

Anyone else get irritated with people who want to vote, debate, campaign for a candidate, etc on politics without being educated on the issues? I recently was debating with an individual in my family, there's the first problem, about politics and after defeating every point made, this person through out the excuse card on not knowing as much as I do on the issues and the voting records of the candidates in this year's Presidential race, well, at this point, race for the nomination.

So, what did I do, I took a couple hours out of my life and put together about 6-7 pages on each of the three possibilities we'll see in the general election. That was three weeks ago. I have a sister who is going to school on a full ride for field hockey at a university about 5-6 hours away by car depending on traffic. She's currently in her spring/exhibition season and this passed weekend was the last of 5 consecutive weekends these two individuals, ok I'll just say it, my parents, were driving back and forth to see her play. So, over the last three weeks, since I handed those print-outs to my mother, in the car, as she was pulling out of the drive way (I was house/dog sitting for them), you'd think in the 30+ hours of sitting in the car, they'd be able to take a few minutes and peek at those voting records and where the candidates stand on the issues. Nope, I guess it's not a priority.

I know my parents quite well, and knowing their views, my parents should both be conservatives. My father is registered Republican, my mother Democrat. I found out this year, through a number of discussions about the issues, my mother really has more conservative views than liberal. She has a soft spot for poverty and wants to help out, but at the same time she abhors Welfare abuses. She's anti-abortion, she's anti-gun control, she doesn't want higher taxes, and generally, she's in favor of smaller government. That's the definition of conservatism. So, hence my frustration when she tells me she's thinking about voting for Senator Clinton. I don't get it...it's my mother, but I don't know what more to say other than "You can't fix stupid."

My father, basically, has the same views, and as I said, he's registered Republican. He says he's been "impressed" with Senator Obama. I don't know what that means. He doesn't talk politics, doesn't like to get into it, and really won't participate in any discussion with it. I don't like to assume, but my dad's not one that likes to discuss things he's not familiar with and I'm assuming he hasn't taken the time to do the research on his own.

My sister and my sister-in-law, both seniors at two different universities, are both registered Democrats based on it being the hip thing to do at college. Neither knows the issues. Neither understands politics.

It just frustrates me to know end when people vote without having a clue on the issues and don't make it a priority. My parents, surprisingly to me anyway, have their DVR set to record all the American Idol episodes but can't find time to do research on politics.

I'm just appalled at the general apathy towards politics you see these days. This country wouldn't be where it is today and going in the direction it's going if people would at least educate themselves on politics. It'd be even better if people would participate at some level.

What more can you do?