People are sheep

[andysocial]

Something which strikes me on occasion is how, when I speak to my coworkers or others with any brains at all, and the topic drifts to politics or economics, there is a sameness. Almost everyone I converse with is generally reasonable, with a few blind spots (we all have them). Almost nobody claims that Tom DeLay is a good example, and almost nobody claims that Mike Moore is anything but a self-aggrandizing propagandist. Nearly everyone agrees that the unfettered capitalism of the late 19th century which led to the Robber Barons was a bad idea, and almost everyone also agrees that the total socialism practiced in Cuba is not exactly an economic boom.

Yet, all these reasonable people go to the polls every two to four years and vote for people who are anything but reasonable. How in the world do we get ideologues and idiots in office, when most people are basically decent human beings, with the minor difference in opinion about things like the proper role of government in our lives? It's astounding, especially when you consider that the American governmental process is remarkably transparent compared to many other countries. If this is the best of all possible systems, I'm glad to be living in it.

Of course, another issue which recurs is a growing lack of personal responsibility among individuals. Blaming the government for the failures of the past month is easy. Now, what is that pesky phrase in the Constitution? Oh, right - We the People. We, the people, are considered to be the sovereign rulers of the United States. We, the people, should not be waiting for the government to Do Something when things go awry. We, the people, comprise the country and if our elected representatives aren't doing something, we need to. This lack of personal responsibility spreads through the public school system as well, with the consequence that parents seem too willing to abdicate all requirements that they raise their own darned kids, preferring the strangers of a major institution to take care of that rather personal issue. Mystifying.

Good night.

View this post on my blog

Comments

[just-jenn.livejournal.com]

baaaaa

[andysocial]

You're a dork.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

There should be no need for you to write things like that. But there is, and I'm pleased that you did.

[andysocial]

Sometimes the bleeding obvious makes good fodder for writing.

[kylakae.livejournal.com]

It's not necessarily the people you work with or the "people with brains" who vote in these idiots. There are a lot of people who fall outside of those two categories.

There is also a great deal of apathy toward voting and the effectiveness or our voting system. An amazing number of people I know just don't bother voting any more.

[andysocial]

I'd like to hope that there aren't a preponderance of stupid people voting, but then I realize that the "get out the vote" campaigns rarely give anyone any information to become informed voters. All those campaigns care about is raising absolute numbers of people at the polls - I'd rather have lower turnout of people who know what they're voting for.

One of my friends came up with something called the National Usefulness Test, which would be a requirement before you're granted voting rights (very Heinlein-esque). One question on the NUT would be, "Who is your current elected representative?" For whatever level of government is applicable, if you can't name the person who's in power now, you shouldn't be allowed to vote for his replacement.

[kylakae.livejournal.com]

Seems reasonable to me.

I personally try to encourage folks to vote local. I think electing the right people at the local level would have a trickle up effect. I also think the electoral system needs to go. But that's just my opinion.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Having lived in a low population state for a good chunck of my adult life, I think the electoral system is vitally important. It keeps the rural portions of our nation from being completely ignored in favor of the urban ones... Which is exactly what was intended.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

And on a totally different subject... Where the heck did that extra "c" come from?

[andysocial]

Exactly - our government was intended to be majority rule, with the consent of the minority. It's a tricky balance, and one that those screaming "the Democrats are a minority party and should shut up and color" don't seem to understand. I'd hate to see a single-party state rise in this country, regardless of which party that is. And, if we went to a straight vote without the electoral college, we would end up with a near-permanent Democratic president at the very least.