Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Proud to be an Ameri-median-voter-ican...
"The Myth of The Rational Voter" may be more than just a myth!
I've decided, since seeing the army of ominous sheep on the cover of Bryan Caplan's book, to look around and wonder if the people I live with, work with, wait on, see in the computer lab, are dark ominous sheep!
I've started asking people about what they think of politics. Most people say they hate politics! I ask them about the candidates, everybody has an opinion about which candidate is the best, but can’t really explain why they think that way. Either that, or they say they like a candidate because he/she is not so-and-so, whom they abhor! Sounds like great reason to vote for President, doesn’t it? A lot of people even say that it won’t matter how they vote because there are powers at large that make their vote obsolete. So, I ask who they’ll vote for and it usually leads to glazing over of their eyes and a change of subject.
So, who’ll win the Presidential election? Well, obviously the candidate with the most votes! Well, thinking of the median voter, it will come down to a popularity contest. A popularity contest! What does that mean about America? To me, I take it that Americans live a nation that isn’t so much a representative democracy, but rather a popularity contest. Arguably, I suppose, the majority will have the majority of people’s interest in mind and will allow the needs of the majority to be met. Doesn’t sound so good for the minority does it? Well, if the minority can accept that the popular vote is the way of things, then maybe they’ll just adjust their needs so that they will conform to what is available.
Yuck!
With that dynamic, it’s no wonder there are so many people ‘in the middle’ and sitting the fence. People want to feel like they have semblance of importance or significance! The best way to prevent being disappointed is to hang out in the middle and to simply adjust BEFORE the disappointment so that after the fact, a person won’t feel like they HAD TO change. Thus, it makes perfect sense to hang out in the middle.
It’s just ironic to me that people will be proud to be American, but will not even have the boldness to stake a claim, to fight for what they believe in, to stand up to political processes! But, people have found it much easier to simply be a part of the median to play along with the game.
Bah bah, black sheep!
I've decided, since seeing the army of ominous sheep on the cover of Bryan Caplan's book, to look around and wonder if the people I live with, work with, wait on, see in the computer lab, are dark ominous sheep!
I've started asking people about what they think of politics. Most people say they hate politics! I ask them about the candidates, everybody has an opinion about which candidate is the best, but can’t really explain why they think that way. Either that, or they say they like a candidate because he/she is not so-and-so, whom they abhor! Sounds like great reason to vote for President, doesn’t it? A lot of people even say that it won’t matter how they vote because there are powers at large that make their vote obsolete. So, I ask who they’ll vote for and it usually leads to glazing over of their eyes and a change of subject.
So, who’ll win the Presidential election? Well, obviously the candidate with the most votes! Well, thinking of the median voter, it will come down to a popularity contest. A popularity contest! What does that mean about America? To me, I take it that Americans live a nation that isn’t so much a representative democracy, but rather a popularity contest. Arguably, I suppose, the majority will have the majority of people’s interest in mind and will allow the needs of the majority to be met. Doesn’t sound so good for the minority does it? Well, if the minority can accept that the popular vote is the way of things, then maybe they’ll just adjust their needs so that they will conform to what is available.
Yuck!
With that dynamic, it’s no wonder there are so many people ‘in the middle’ and sitting the fence. People want to feel like they have semblance of importance or significance! The best way to prevent being disappointed is to hang out in the middle and to simply adjust BEFORE the disappointment so that after the fact, a person won’t feel like they HAD TO change. Thus, it makes perfect sense to hang out in the middle.
It’s just ironic to me that people will be proud to be American, but will not even have the boldness to stake a claim, to fight for what they believe in, to stand up to political processes! But, people have found it much easier to simply be a part of the median to play along with the game.
Bah bah, black sheep!
