Low voter turnouts in many nations, including, notoriously, the United States, are commonly taken as evidence that government has failed to elicit support. Prima facie, an equally or even more plausible conclusion may be that such turnouts are evidence that government has not engendered grievous distrust and opposition. Silence cannot unambiguously prove the case for or against government. If the crippled epistemology of mimicry underpins our expectations of government, then the limited commitment of most people to try to change or affect government makes epistemologically good sense.

XREF: Passing familiarity with political science debates about participation and legitimacy — this flips the standard 'low turnout = low legitimacy' equation.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 772