Stupid Voters Enable Broken Government

[Andara Bledin]

Opinion article at CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/opinion/granderson-broken-government-voters/index.html?npt=NP1)

I've been saying much the same thing since I was old enough to take part in the voting process and aware enough to recognize the effects of stupid voting.

Let's hope that at least a few of the people actually responsible for enabling our broken government get the hint.

I'm not holding my breath.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

I've said this before, but there was one year I decided I wasn't well-enough informed to vote; I'd spent most of it deliberately avoiding news, to the extent that was possible, because it had just gotten too frustrating.

The thing is, though, that I knew enough to recognize holes in my knowledge put me ahead of most voters!

[Andara Bledin]

What really pisses me off are the people who rail and complain about how the people in office are screwing us over, then go to the polls and re-elect the same exact bastards they'd spent the previous year bitching about!

^-.-^

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

A lot the blame/responsibility for this belongs to the media. So many people will take what they see on Fox News or MSNBC at COMPLETE face value and not question it at all or do their own research.

So if Fox News says Obama is a scary socialist out to take all their hard earned money, they'll freak out and vote Republican. They won't give a shit about what the Republicans will actually do, they just want to get rid of Obama all because of what they saw on Fox.

Do you have any idea how many politicians either twist facts or pull them completely out of their asses during interviews or debates?

Suppose Rick Perry claimed at the next GOP debate that Obama has cost the U.S. $368 Billion a year by not cracking down on illegal immigrants.

How many people do you think would question that and research it themselves?

Most would just jump straight to: "Oh my God, Obama's out of his mind!" without a proper analysis of the info and its source.

I swear far too many people in America have no critical thinking/analytical skills. We just accept whatever the people in the media or on the podium tell us.

[bara]

A good point, people (because they are stupid) tend to take everything they see on the news as fact.

I actually consider it the medias job to fact check these comments. But often they dont. This leave us having to do it ourselves, sadly, you are more likely to get the truth of things on a website like the one we are currently on than you are a major media site.
// I vote democrat now almost all the time
/// used to be republican, luckily before I was old enough to vote
//// slashies

[Andara Bledin]

Anybody that relies on "news" presented by a network that fought to be considered entertainment and thus able to give any viewpoint they want regardless of the truth is stupid. Don't blame Fox for trying to make money: blame the people who give Fox the power to make money with lies and partial truths.

Then again, I'm of the opinion that truth in advertising laws should be followed when presenting news. Unless you have a prominent disclaimer in the opening sequence of a program that declares that your "news" program is entertainment and not actual news, then you shouldn't be allowed to call it such.

Unfortunately, the lack of critical thinking ability is a fault of our schools and the fact that we're still teaching towards an industrial society, where thinking outside the box while on the line could get people killed. The world has moved on, and if we don't wake up and do the same, it'll pass us by.

^-.-^

[Boozy]

I actually consider it the medias job to fact check these comments.

I agree, but I also consider it to be the candidate's job not to lie.

Sadly, at some point everyone threw up their hands and said, "All politicians lie, and that's just a fact." Why has that become acceptable? Voters need to start expecting more of their public servants.

[tropicsgoddess]

I think the writer of the article hit the nail on the head.

[HYHYBT]

What really pisses me off are the people who rail and complain about how the people in office are screwing us over, then go to the polls and re-elect the same exact bastards they'd spent the previous year bitching about!

^-.-^Sometimes, it depends on who else is running. Suppose, for example, that you complain to anyone who will pretend to listen about how lazy and ineffective your city councilman is. Come election season, though, his only opponent is someone who, you know from past experience, *will* get done what they want to do.... but the things they promise to do are things you're against, AND you know full well he's an embezzler, though it could never be proven. Given such choice, is it not better to keep the do-nothing you have?

Suppose Rick Perry claimed at the next GOP debate that Obama has cost the U.S. $368 Billion a year by not cracking down on illegal immigrants.

How many people do you think would question that and research it themselves?I don't know who believes what, but the suggestion one candidate made that vaccines cause retardation was quickly and widely corrected, for anyone who didn't actively decide to stick their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing it.

I actually consider it the medias job to fact check these comments. But often they don't.Often they don't. But the other side is, when people hear contradictory statements, many will not see a difference in quality, but instead believe it's an undecided issue, it's just peoples' opinions, etc and will listen only to those saying what they want to hear.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't know who believes what, but the suggestion one candidate made that vaccines cause retardation was quickly and widely corrected, for anyone who didn't actively decide to stick their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing it.
Unfortunately, that doesn't matter.

People would rather stick with a decision that they'd made based on lies, bad information, or just mistakes than actually change their decision. Even if their original decision can be proven to cause them direct harm.

We live in a society where people are so afraid of being seen as fallible that the fear of even appearing fallible (which changing your mind would prove you were :rolleyes:) is unacceptable to them.

^-.-^

[RecoveringKinkoid]

This (http://relaxedfocus.blogspot.com/2010/11/you-want-to-know-about-voting-im-here.html) would be hilarious if it weren't so true.

I don't know how work safe that little PSA is. It's Warren Ellis, so you know language.

[BlaqueKatt]

I swear far too many people in America have no critical thinking/analytical skills. We just accept whatever the people in the media or on the podium tell us.

the recall elections here in WI were proof of that. we had a number of seats open due to successful recalls, the GOP had some of their members "shift affiliation" on paper only to be listed on the ballot as democrats. And yes some got voted in with the people that voted for them screaming how unfair it was they were voting for democrats! Maybe do some research rather than just looking for them damn letter after their name that means exactly nothing....
I found it amusing, maybe next time they'll pay attention(especially as the GOP publicly announced what they were doing, it made the news and the paper)

[mikoyan29]

It's funny, we keep hearing about the 98% and yet we keep electing the same people that keep bending over backwards for the multinationals.

[Andara Bledin]

That would be lazy, ignorant, stupid, lazy, pissant voters at work.

Unfortunately, they still outnumber those of us who actually give a rat's ass about our country and don't just play "vote by numbers" where we pick whoever our parents/work/church/bff/party tells us to.

^-.-^

[mikoyan29]

I don't know, I used to be a huge political and news junkie and more and more I find myself not caring. It's funny because it wasn't the debt ceiling debate that did it for me. It was the fact that the FAA has been on interim funding measures since 2007 and mostly over idelogical reasons. We are at a crossroads as far as the air traffic grid goes and Congress is pissing away. And in this situation, neither party is blameless.
The debt ceiling debate didn't help my attitude towards Congress because it seems like they would rather crash the country than surrender on an idelogical point. They say we can't increase taxes and to expect certain groups of folks to pay the same rates is class warfare. Everyone in Washington bitches about the 2000 page tax code but when it starts coming down with what to change, they balk. Everyone in Washington bitches about the budget but when it comes down to items to cut, they balk. Even the Super Committee has me jaded because the cuts they are talking about amount to nothing compared to the scheme of things.

Currently, we are running a 1.3 Trillion Deficit and that works out to about a third of the budget. The Super Committee is supposed to come up with 2.5 Trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years....assuming the deficit would otherwise remain the same...that means we add 10 Trillion to the Debt instead of 13 Trillion....So what difference will that make in the scheme of things?

[bara]

I think a lot of this goes back to education. There are many many factors at work in education. But the bottom line is stupid people make tend to make bad decisions.

Im also of the opinion that any one who actually wants to be in politics, probably shouldnt be.

[Greenday]

I feel like term limits would help this. At least dumb people couldn't keep voting for the same morons every election.

[mikoyan29]

I feel like term limits would help this. At least dumb people couldn't keep voting for the same morons every election.
I think term limits make things worse...

[HYHYBT]

Currently, we are running a 1.3 Trillion Deficit and that works out to about a third of the budget. The Super Committee is supposed to come up with 2.5 Trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years....assuming the deficit would otherwise remain the same...that means we add 10 Trillion to the Debt instead of 13 Trillion....So what difference will that make in the scheme of things?Cutting a third of the budget at one go, though, would be disastrous all around, even in good economic times. So make cuts that would amount to 2.5 or whatever if left alone for ten years, which everyone knows they won't be anyway... and then, a couple years in when everything's settled from that, do another round of the same.

[Greenday]

Cutting a third of the budget at one go, though, would be disastrous all around, even in good economic times. So make cuts that would amount to 2.5 or whatever if left alone for ten years, which everyone knows they won't be anyway... and then, a couple years in when everything's settled from that, do another round of the same.

Fix everything now! I don't want to hear that it will take time to fix a mess that took almost a decade to get us in!

/sarcasm

[MadMike]

What really pisses me off are the people who rail and complain about how the people in office are screwing us over, then go to the polls and re-elect the same exact bastards they'd spent the previous year bitching about!


People like to complain about people who don't vote. I think people who vote without putting any kind of thought into it are even worse. This point was raised in a movie called "The Distinguished Gentleman." For anyone who's not familiar with it, Eddie Murphy plays a con man who goes into politics, and wins because his name is similar to a recently deceased congressman. One scene shows a couple going to vote, and the guy asks his wife, "Who is it that we always vote for?"

The main points that the movie raised were 1) Politicians, and possibly the system as a whole, are corrupt, quite possibly beyond repair, and 2) the majority of the voters are idiots and/or don't pay attention.

[AdminAssistant]

I'm sure that there are cases of blatant stupidity among voters. I don't doubt that at all. But it seems much more likely that people are just busy. They don't have the time or energy or want-to to try and wade through political commentary trying to get to the truth. I'll be honest, the Daily Show/Colbert Report is pretty much all the political commentary I watch any more.

[Andara Bledin]

In the world of the Internet, there's no excuse for being uninformed.

^-.-^

[Racket_Man]

once again I turn to George Carlin on the subject of voting

George Carlin On Voting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk)

[mikoyan29]

Fix everything now! I don't want to hear that it will take time to fix a mess that took almost a decade to get us in!

/sarcasm
A decade? If only it were that short.

[HYHYBT]

In the world of the Internet, there's no excuse for being uninformed.

^-.-^

...but in another sense, it's harder than ever. Yes, there's lots of information out there. Maybe too much, and particularly too much of it that doesn't even attempt to be even-handed and simply informative. Sifting the internet for political truth is simply more than most people can do *well,* and most people think they are doing just that by only listening to those who already agree with them.

[protege]

I think term limits make things worse...

Agreed. Think about it, if you knew that your second (or third) term in office was nearly over, would you really give a crap about the issues? I have a feeling that most people in that position really wouldn't care. They'd leave the mess for the new person to deal with. But, if that new person was of different political affiliation...they might do everything in their power to make the situation worse.

[mikoyan29]

Agreed. Think about it, if you knew that your second (or third) term in office was nearly over, would you really give a crap about the issues? I have a feeling that most people in that position really wouldn't care. They'd leave the mess for the new person to deal with. But, if that new person was of different political affiliation...they might do everything in their power to make the situation worse.
Part of the problem is the scope of government. We have term limits for all of the State Government posts and by the time the person gets used to the ropes, they have to move on.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

In the world of the Internet, there's no excuse for being uninformed.

^-.-^

There's also a higher chance than ever of becoming MISinformed.

For example, if you Google "Is Barack Obama a socialist?" you'll probably get a ton of results back from somewhat legitimate looking sites saying that yes Obama is indeed a socialist, regardless of whether or not it's actually true.

[Andara Bledin]

There's also a higher chance than ever of becoming MISinformed.
The ignorant will continue to be ignorant.

Those who make any effort to educate themselves, even if they get bad information at first, will eventually learn that not all data holds the same value and not everything you read is true.

But if they just keep on learning nothing, the country will continue to regress until those in power who want a country ruled by ignorance and superstition get what they're after.

^-.-^