Tom your modernization point is part of it. However, letting the politician get away with saying they will try and do something while in office, and then vote in the opposite direction when the time comes is part of the apathy I refer to. Americans don't for the most part pay attention to those details. We re-vote incumbents into office for no other reason than our perception they have done a good job, which in many cases is not even close to the truth (Bush as a perfect example).