Word: bestir
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...report the same kind of temperamental determinism. Families are full of stories of the inexhaustible infant who grew up to be an entrepreneur, the phlegmatic child who never really showed much go. But if it's genes that run the show, what accounts for the Shipps, who didn't bestir themselves until the cusp of adulthood? And what, more tellingly, explains identical twins--precise genetic templates of each other who ought to be temperamentally identical but often exhibit profound differences in the octane of their ambition...
Perhaps. But absent a remarkable change in human nature, it seems unlikely the American multitudes, more concerned with "Survivor" and stock options than with the details of Al Gore's prescription drug plan, will suddenly bestir themselves, flip on CNN, and catch up on all the politics they have missed during our comfortable, decade-long Gilded Age. More likely, a sudden and artificially induced increase in voter turnout would only mean an increase in the number of ill-informed, poorly thought out and just plain stupid votes. To be blunt, most of the people who don't vote, shouldn...
Until Washington does bestir itself, consumers must look after themselves. All fresh vegetables--including packaged, so-called triple-washed vegetables--should be thoroughly cleaned. Steaks can be safely eaten relatively rare, since E. coli is typically found only on the surface of food, and cooking will generally kill it. Hamburger is another matter. Grinding beef distributes bacteria throughout the patty, so the only safe burger is a well-done burger...
...think Washington has left them to the cruelties of Saddam Hussein, the Turkish government or both. Indeed, the U.S. could be a target for just about any group that feels itself aggrieved and believes the one superpower has caused its troubles or could stop them but won't bestir itself...
...what of those who could easily pull the lever but won't bestir themselves? They tend to be people who are too wrapped up in their daily life to pay much attention to outside matters -- TV, sports and rock music perhaps excepted. If incessant nagging did push them into the polling booths, there is no warrant for believing it would also provoke them to study the issues and the candidates' backgrounds. At a bad best, their votes would be prompted by some irrelevant emotional factor, a candidate's age or winning smile, perhaps...