A rant:
I'm extremely frustrated with our electoral process. It seems to currently have a fundamental flaw. Joe-citizen gets to vote for who he wants to become the leader of our country.
That sounds all well and good, right? Everybody gives their opinion through their vote and the majority wins (well, theoretically). What's the problem with that? The problem is that one of the basic assumptions being made is that Joe-citizen is well-informed.
Maybe I should clarify that, because I believe that the American public is bombarded with information, but is it not the quantity of information I take issue with. It is the quality. Is that information of use? Maybe it is, but is it even truthful?
The truth question is beyond me to answer. At the very least I know that the information we receive can't possibly be unbiased. I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with biased reporting as long we know it is biased (and I believe we do). The problem with biased reporting is the way we, the American public, receive it.
We all know what organizations/personalities lean left and which lean right, so what do we do? We pick the one we agree with so that our opinions and emotions and ill-will towards the other side are continually reinforced.
The "conservative" Southern Baptist (whose religious governing body seems to become a branch of the Republican party every 4 years) listens to Rush and O’Reilly and is just dumb-founded that anyone would vote for that lying, tree-hugging hippy, Kerry.
The "liberal" modern intellectual listens to NPR, loves Michael Moore, and is absolutely aghast that anyone would vote for that lying, elitist idiot, Bush.
Of course I'm showing two extremes to make a point, so please don't take this as a barb at anyone in particular. It is the way the American voting public in general thinks that frustrates me, not any particular sect of it.
Because, in general, we choose what information sources we will pay attention to we become more convinced that we're right and more convinced that anyone that disagrees with us is an idiot.
After we become convinced we're right we stop thinking. Our brains shut off because we've already made our decision. Any information that is brought to our attention that challenges our views gets dismissed as un-credible or downright not true. We don't care anything about what the other side thinks because they're obviously not to be trusted.
The result of all of this is that we have a country that is full of people foaming at the mouth to make their opinion known through their vote, but what good is their opinion? Is their opinion driven by well thought out consideration of all sides (or even more than one side) of an issue? Is it grounded in fact, or is it grounded in ill-informed emotion reinforced by intentionally (and gladly received) propaganda?
The outcome of this election is ultimately left in the hands of average Joe-citizen. Good? I don't think so. Is there a better system? I doubt it. Can the existing system improve? I believe it could.
I believe we could take our responsibility as voting citizens a little more responsibly. I believe we could actually consider why others think the way they do. I believe we could know enough about an issue or a situation to actually own our opinion about it, rather than just adopt the opinion of those around us.
The link below is to a site that, as far as I can tell, is as neutral as possible. They seem to do a good job of presenting facts (mostly by the way of quotes). I would suggest you check them out.
http://www.issues2000.org/default.htm
Posted by amduffy at August 31, 2004 09:57 AM | TrackBackso true. . .
Posted by: Jeremy at August 31, 2004 10:33 AMHey, i know what you mean. That site is a little overwhelming, but very helpfull. factcheck.org is another site you could look at for more unbiased information.
Posted by: charity at August 31, 2004 12:58 PMI have several conservative friends that love FOX news because it is a source of news given in a conservative light. I was at my mother-in-laws house back in Louisiana over the last few days and was able to watch the opening night of the RNC on FOX. I wanted to change the channel to PBS or C-Span, so that I could get the convention from the Lefts point of view (PBS) or a pretty neutral viewpoint (C-Span). I would much rather get my news from a viewpoint where I know I need to filter out the bad stuff. I guess the truth is that as a conservative I need to do the same type of filtering while watching FOX as I do watching PBS, CBS, NBC, and ABC. I guess it is just much easier to filter out the big chunks vs. the small stuff.
Posted by: gid at September 1, 2004 11:01 AMhttp://newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?040830crat_atlarge
I think this article from the New Yorker hits the nail of your rant on the head. Lemme know what you think.
Posted by: beck at September 5, 2004 05:41 PMThe other day I saw a sign that I thought was interesting, "If president Bush was a democrat and senator Kerry was a republican, how would you vote?"
I don't care much for either of them.
Posted by: Andy at September 10, 2004 05:56 AMThe electorial system and college is a compromise between a set of states that are united. It was intended to provide some balance between "state representation" and "populous majority". Most people hate it (particularly Al Gore). I see the logic behind it and no one seems to question the need for the House and the Senate which is exactly the same compromise.
The "laziness" of those that have adopted a party line view point and only seek others that reinforce that view must make Jefferson and Madison spin in their graves.
You might have an IQ of 150 and see the many gray areas of the world and the strength and weaknesses of the two parties, but your single vote counts the same as the guy with IQ 80 that is voting cuz Rush or Micheal Moore is "cool". And its sad in some way, but I think its important to have that apparent flaw so that the elitest intellectual class doesn't become a the ruling class that Alexander Hamilton wanted. The government has to represent us all equally...
But it scares me sometimes...
Posted by: Sequoyah at October 2, 2004 03:23 AMGood points, Sequoyah. I really should spend some time researching the electoral college. Maybe you could educate me over a few cold ones. Same bat time, same bat station?
Posted by: aduff at October 5, 2004 08:13 AMWorks for me!
Posted by: Sequoyah at October 5, 2004 08:58 AM