VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

louzucaro · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject:

There are a ton of complexities re: voting and where the candidates stand on things, how they've voted in the past on issues they've voted on etc.

One of the problems is that new bills, for example, are rarely about a single thing. So it's really convenient when somebody's trying to show a particular candidate in either a positive or negative light by saying they voted / didn't vote for a particular issue.

Keep in mind, though, that they may have voted / not voted because of something else that was part of the same legislation, and you may or not be in favor of that other aspect.

Even when doing your homework, consider the source and ask yourself if they're really presenting all of the information.

Quizzes like this are cute, but ultimately worthless. I mean, really, saying that such and such a candidate agrees 100% with your views on one of 18 topics is ludicrous and, at best, entirely misleading. You answered a pre-defined question which was, for all intents and purposes, black & white. You didn't have a discussion with the candidate. You didn't get into detail about the nuances of the topic.

The reason governance is such a hot-button topic for so many people is because it IS so complex, because there are nearly limitless possibilities for how to do things, and because there is no such thing as black / white / right / wrong answers for nearly every one of the issues that a modern, western government deals with.

I also have to laugh at the notion of "making sure you fully understand the issue before you vote". Come on. Thousands of people have hotly debated the general concepts related to economics for decades, as a single example. It would be impossible for all but a handful of people on earth to "fully understand" that one issue, let alone all the others, before voting...and they'd likely have to have a lifetime of study and real-world experience to get close to that idea.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject:

Wow Lou - this must really be a hot button with you.

My first admonition was to do the drill down and due diligence due to the nature of "statistics." I don't think anyone on THIS board would blindly accept the results as gospel.

A quiz like this serves more to help an individual really balance and understand what it important to them, rather than the nuances of every issue. You are correct, there are so very few people who do "know" an issue and the economics example makes this very clear.

A quiz like this can be a doorway to asking more questions, reading more articles, using critical thinking. If it does nothing more than to get someone to prioritize what is important - or even more basic than that - if it gets someone to learn more about an issue in order to prioritize it, then it serves a purpose.
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louzucaro · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:48 pm Post subject:

Haha, no, it's not THAT much of a hot button issue, but I have seen links to places like that on a number of other places where people said things like "Wow, I didn't realize I should vote for _____!" and they weren't kidding Frown

And yes, of course, anything that gets people more curious / educated about stuff that's important to them is good...I only meant useless in terms of a thing to use to "figure out" who to vote for.
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Lou Zucaro
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"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

CarynClark · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:57 am Post subject:

I see Lou's point. While I completely agree with the notion of researching topics, reading more articles, and applying critical thinking when making decisions, I think the point must be made that it really depends on the sources one uses to do that. There is a certain amount of bias in everything that's written or reported.
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Diane Havens · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:38 am Post subject:

One of the sites that I use that's pretty reliable is:

http://www.factcheck.org/

Of course, you could go on forever with the back and forths and rights and wrongs of it all -- as has been said, this is complex stuff. But the one thing it does do is help you see the other side of things. If you don't put up blocks of partisanship, even if it doesn't convince you of an opposing view, it may help you understand another way of thinking. Open minds are minds that continue to grow and learn.
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louzucaro · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:55 am Post subject:

Diane I have to agree...that site usually holds pretty tightly to their non-partisan claims and is often a good jumping off point to get more detail on a given subject.
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Lou Zucaro
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