The American people feel powerless and are extremely uneducated in relation to government policies and the world around them. Civic participation is considered an unsuccessful measure in the minds of many American citizens. During an interview on the subject; many describe themselves as a tiny part of a huge entity over which they have no control. Others expressed a lack of time and energy to get involved, or a reliance on the country as a whole to make the right decisions. The understanding of democracy and its principles are conceptions of unknown and feared territory compared to a general lack of education on the subject. Civic participation therefore continues to fall. Additionally, the lack of education in the government structure imbued with romanticized knowledge of history also contributes significantly to this lack of participation. The American people need empowerment through education in the structure of government, history, and politics that should begin at an early age and be instituted in every curriculum across the country. Empowerment in Civic Participation When interviewing staff at Sierra Vista Health Care Center, it became apparent that many do not feel empowered enough to participate in politics. A random sample of fifty people was interviewed and divided into three groups. The first group included people aged eighteen to thirty-five. Group two: thirty-six to fifty, and group three included all staff over fifty. The only group that felt the least bit empowered to make a difference was group two. However, group two only had ten participants. When asked, do you vote? Dawn Anzuelda, a participant in Group 1, said “no, I don’t.” when asked why...... middle of paper ......0November 13. Print.Page, Susan. “Policy Center Bipartisan Poll.” The United States Today. July 22, 2013: b. page. Print. “History of the United States.” American government. Independence Hall Association, nd Web. November 21, 2013. “United States Census Bureau.” Editing. US Department of Commerce, July 20, 2009. Web. November 21, 2013. .Nussbaum, Martha. “Patriotism and cosmopolitanism.” Cosmopolitan reader. (1994): n. page. Print. .anda, Kenneth, Jeffrey Berry and Jerry Goldman. The challenge of democracy. 11th. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Lau, Richard R., and David Redlawsk. How voters decide. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006. “The History of the United States of America” in print. US-history.com. Np, October 17, 2013. Web. November 21 2013. .