There has been renewed debate over the malady that lies at the heart of modern Australian politics.

It was sparked by the release of Lindsay Tanner's book, Sideshow, which argues that democracy is being dumbed down principally by the media, with politicians complicit in the process.

The media and politicians do have much to answer for. Their self-serving world of half truths, beat-ups, misrepresentation, slogans and fudge is a poor substitute for reality.

But much of the blame lies elsewhere. The real problem is not the media, not the politicians; it is you - you the voter. The level of knowledge that lies behind the average vote is distressingly slight.

Before the last election I had many conversations with voters. One was with a local shopkeeper. Having handed over the bread and yoghurt he launched into his analysis of the election ahead.

"They're going to put up the GST to 20%, for sure. Doesn't matter who wins, they'll both do it - 20% minimum." He saw that fantasy as the central truth at stake in the election.

Other conversations were with professional people, people earning six and seven figure sums - five times as much as an average backbencher and more. They had a clear view on how they were going to vote, a view based on inherited beliefs combined with a near complete ignorance of current issues.

Carbon sequestration is a clumsy term, but the idea of storing carbon in the ground is a relatively simple one and it is often referred to in the carbon debate. In a conversation with six of those professionals nobody had heard of it. Likewise "dog whistle" politics, a useful phrase to describe the way politicians say one thing publicly knowing a subtext will be heard by some in the audience, was an entirely new idea to them.

Faced with this level of indifference and ignorance what are politicians meant to do beyond picking three slogans, repeating them endlessly and hoping something will get through to people who only hear them accidentally when they tune in too early for Master Chef and catch a political grab on the news headlines?

Lindsay Tanner says democratic politics have always been far from perfect, but they are getting worse. Political columnist Gerard Henderson takes a different view and as evidence he points to the recent, very successful campaign of now Premier Barry O'Farrell in NSW.

Old fashioned politics, says Henderson, not dumbed-down spin led O'Farrell to victory. Well maybe, but the O'Farrell campaign seemed pretty much in step with the modern conventions of running attack ads and staging a daily policy stunt for the cameras.

The secret to the coalition's win did not lie in any old-fashioned truth telling. It was built on the very solid basis of running against a government that had long outstayed its welcome, that was caught up in frenzy of back-stabbing, maladministration and personal scandals and which provided the electorate with riveting images like ministers dancing on the parliamentary furniture in their underwear. Even the most inattentive voter took a clear view to the ballot box in NSW, and it was not uninformed.

In the interests of balance a word in defence of the disengaged voters.

"Why should I pay attention to the political debates?" our accused voter might ask.

"95 per cent of government goes on unchanged regardless of who's running the show. Of the bit that changes 95 per cent has nothing to do with me. If you want me to spend my time understanding something to find the five per cent of the five per cent that matters, forget it, it's not an efficient use of my time.

"Besides, a lot of the stuff is beyond knowing. A lifetime of study would not provide a definite answer to issues like global warming and what is the best way to deal with it - or how best to equip the country for the future of technology."

"Politics is vitally important to people who make money out of it - like politicians and political journalists. I've got a life to run."

That's not a view that provides a good basis for a good civic society, but it is understandable.

Marius Benson can be heard covering federal politics on ABC NewsRadio's breakfast program each week day morning.