Well, the political cat is out of the bag. I really did want to avoid it, not make this a political oriented blog, etc. But I have never felt that things were in a worse state in my life, at least from the time where I felt that I had an inkling of what politics were about.
Tom brought this point up in a prior comment:
…it’s just so frustrating to hear the logic people use to cast their votes. …they give their reasons for voting and I think “How can anyone even think that’s important, what about all the other reasons involving the economy, civil liberties and foreign relations.â€Â
I hate myself for sounding like an elitist prick every time I say it or think it, but I am convinced the majority of people are too stupid/biased/self-interested to vote correctly- aka what is best for the country.
Don’t worry, I have come to accept this as fact and it doesn’t make you an elitist prick. It’s really just the pure stupidity of it all too. If people voted out of self-interest I could understand that and at least see where they were coming from even if it wasn’t the best thing for the country as a whole. But a lot of people vote for what they believe is their best self-interest because they see absolutely no depth to any issue and are very short-sighted about what new laws might mean.
The other problem is priorities, like I mentioned with the state flag issue in the other post. Greg and I were discussing this the other day about the gay marriage issue on the national level. Regardless of how you feel about the topic, it just blows my mind that polls show that it’s a huge issue in elections. What the hell is the logic there? Hmm, this candidate has very sound economic strategies, a sensible plan to approach foreign relations and a war on terrorism, but, uh-oh, hold the phone, he thinks two ‘mos should be able to get married! He’s not getting my vote! For 99.9% of the people that are adamantly opposed to gay marriage, it will have no effect whatsoever on their lives whether it passes or not.
One more case study I like comes from California where a few years ago voters were given the option of voting on a measure that would make it illegal for banks to change ATM fees to people who used the ATMs but did not bank with them. The mindless voters went to the polls and passed the measure overwhelmingly. Of course the banks responded by making their ATMs refuse to take the other cards at all and there was public outrage. “Hey, you can’t do that!” Of course they can do that. People get these conveniences and then they think it’s their inherent right to take $20 out of the bank on any street corner and not be charged for it even though it costs a bank they don’t even use something to process the transaction. So then a judge stepped in and overturned the law by ruling that it was wrong to ever put it up for a vote in the first place. At least the judicial system can to some extent be counted on to right a few of these wrongs.
So you’re absolutely right. People can’t be trusted to make decisions for themselves. The just eff it all up. Unfortunately, I don’t know what can be done about it at this point. By the way, I tried to avoid politics to some extent on this blog too, but you’re right, now that the can o’ worms is open, I can’t be responsible for the extent and extremity of my posts. I’m as passionate about certainly political issues right now as I have ever been in my life.
The problem is that all of us agree on all these political issues, so all we’ll end up doing is sitting around cursing the world at large and patting each other on the back for how anti-establishment we are. No point in that. I’m going back to my plan of trying as hard as I can to completely ignore this administration until it just goes away.
A couple of points. For starters, the last time humans were all equal, Eve hadn’t shown up. You think that being upset at the (il)logical ways people make decisions make you elitist is a bad thing? If everyone made logic-based decisions, we’d all be driving Civic-like vehicles with good fuel economy, McDonald’s would be out of business and we’d all support local businesses to increase diversity rather than lining the coffers of an evil empire like Wal-Mart. You wish that people would _better_ themselves and you feel _bad_ for it? Don’t! Revel in your elitism and rest easy knowing that when the revolution comes, you’ll have seen it coming and will have stockpiled ammunition. Think of how…disappointingly(?) uninformed the average person is. Now, realize that, by definition, half of the population is _worse_ than that.
It is a shame that people make bad decisions. Is it they are too stupid? Mis-informed? Un-informed? I doubt that. While a certain percentage may bask in their own ignorance, I suspect that they just don’t care. There is very little external motivation to influence the majority of the populace. For example-gay marriage/civil unions. If you’re not gay, then no matter what the outcome of the for/against argument is, it probably won’t effect you. You’ll not be forced to divorce your hetero-spouse and marry a homogenous member of society. Very little is being done in today’s media to raise the level of discourse beyond “Candidate 1 hates civil liberties” and “Candidate 2 will let wolves eat your babies!”. I can only tolerate this sort of ‘debate’ for about 6 minutes when my eyes explode our of my head and my brains squirt out my ears.
People say this past election (2004) will be the most important one in our lifetimes, but I disagree. I suspect the next one (2004) will eclipse this one by a significant margin. Specifically, we are guaranteed 2 years of a conservative, Republican majority in all three ‘branches’ of our representative government. This should permit ample time for them to pass/push any major legislation on their agenda as well as appoint at least one new Supreme Court judge. The midterm elections probably won’t change the makeup very much-they rarely do. So, after four years of this type of leadership, the presidential election should prove quite critical–does the majority like the extreme conservative measure that will surely be implemented by then? I’m hoping for a blue-state uprising.
but we shall see…