Voter apathy is a problem. Electing a governor with only a quarter of registered voters is a victory for the Ainokea ("I no care") Party.

Voter participation was highest when Hawaii residents had to decide on statehood. In the 1959 plebiscite, 132,773 voters (87 percent of registered voters) favored statehood. Voters flocked to the polls because voting promised a better future.

In 2010, Neil Abercrombie won with 222,724 votes, 32.2 percent of registered voters. Turnout was 55.8 percent.

David Ige won in November with 181,065 votes, 25.6 percent of registered voters.

The 52.3 percent election turnout is said to be the lowest in Hawaii history.

John A. Burns, elected in 1962, was our best governor. Governing fell to a nadir during the Abercrombie administration.

Local, long-time residents of Hawaii vote for Democrats for several reasons.

One, Republicans don’t offer attractive alternatives. Religious fundamentalism devalues a candidate’s appeal. Whatever our faults, it can’t be said that we’re not broadly tolerant.

Two, Republicans are saddled by memories of the Lingle administration. The eight-year interruption of Democratic rule could have been productive, but wasn’t.

Three, Republicans here cannot escape association with the anti-government, anti-immigration politics of the national Republican Party.

Four, Republicans are historically the party of the Big Five and the haole oligarchy.

Fifth, and not least, Republicans are not winners. Lacking a winning University of Hawaii football team, we can still be winners in politics by voting Democratic.

Today we vote Democratic knowing that Democrats are local people who share our hopes and values — and knowing that all major ills created by government in Hawaii can be attributed to Democrats.

» Are the state Department of Education and UH functioning better today than during the Burns administration, or are they broken?

» Why did Kakaako development proceed without a well-thought-out plan?

» When will the Employees’ Retirement System be fully funded?

» Will Waikiki, our golden goose, be killed by greedy corporate interests?

» Why are so many people homeless?

» Will our vulnerable underground aquifers turn brackish?

By voting for Democrats — the politicians who gave us today’s Hawaii — we simply make matters worse.

We further implement the decline of the state, the degradation of the natural environment, and the destruction of our important institutions.

We have a government of and by the people that mainly benefits landowners, developers and corporate interests. Why can’t it work for students, commuters, renters, the elderly and the impoverished in need of hospital care?

Furthermore, by voting for Democrats, who value testing regimes more than classroom teachers, we short-change future generations. Despite their talk, Democrats have not provided well for our children and our children’s children.

Our votes for Democratic candidates place us in a quandary that doesn’t encourage going to the polls or mailing back ballots.

We’re caught in a voting dilemma. We want to vote for Democratic candidates. But when we do, we’re simultaneously casting ballots for a worse Hawaii.

The Ainokea Party beckons.

Gov.-elect Ige needs a broad perspective of Hawaii more than a coterie of yes-men and yes-women. Hawaii is changing. Our demographics are changing. To be effective, the Democratic Party here needs to change, too. We don’t want to lose what’s special about Hawaii.

In "The Leopard," the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Tancredi tells his privileged, aristocratic uncle Don Fabrizio, "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change."

In Hawaii, the Democratic Party is the party of privilege. It needs to change and bring about overdue reform.

By voting Democratic, we should no longer feel that we’re voting for a worse Hawaii. Voting should be a vital ritual of democracy.

To cure voter apathy, Democrats need to free us from the voting dilemma.