Elections are this week. Americans all over country will be heading to their local polling stations to cast their ballots, making incredibly important decisions based usually on what they think they learned from 30-second sound bites.
I don’t know about you, but this concerns me greatly.
In 1787 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his friend James Madison where he said “Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.” Two years later, in a letter to the British philosopher and minister Richard Price in 1789, Jefferson said that “…wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government.” The Library of Congress, the largest collection of books in the world today, was built upon the foundation of Jefferson’s personal library, when it acquired his books in 1815. It is extraordinarily clear that Jefferson felt that a viable democracy depended upon a well-informed citizenry.
So how is it that today very few voters truly inform themselves before they vote? This isn’t exclusively a “Republican” problem (although it seems clear there is an anti-science bias among many Republicans, with the denial of anthropogenic global warming, a scientific consensus on evolution and the like, but more about that in a later post); I think Democrats are just as guilty.
Exhibit A is the Proposition process here in California. Propositions are initiatives put onto the ballot by a signature process (if enough signatures are gathered supporting whatever is on the initiative, it gets to be voted on by the populace). It was enacted years ago to allow the general population to bypass the legislative process if they (the legislators) were unwilling or unable to act on something. In essence, The People can show their displeasure with their elected officials by direct vote. Propositions that pass automatically become law; the courts then sort out if something is unconstitutional after the fact, so in principle, there are checks and balances. It was a way for the general population to be heard, and was meant as a last resort if legislators were gridlocked or corrupt.
The unfortunate situation today is that in a population as large as California, it’s not that hard to get enough signatures, if you’ve got enough money to mount a statewide campaign. So for example, Big Oil can get an initiative on the ballot to free up offshore drilling by couching their initiative in “energy independence” terms and spending boatloads of cash on paid signature-gatherers. More boatloads of cash go into ad campaigns once the initiative makes it onto the ballot, and if worded properly (presumably with the help of focus groups and highly-paid consultants), almost anything can be made to sound attractive. Especially if most people base their voting decision on what they see in ads, rather than careful evaluation of the initiative itself. California even supplies non-partisan analyses, “simple wording” explanations and the opportunity to read pro and con comments by supporters and detractors, complete with rebuttals from the opposing parties.
But most people don’t even read the dumbed-down explanations. They decide what they’re going to vote for (or against) based on the ads run by proponents and/or opponents (cue dramatic music while a sincere-looking and trustworthy authority figure with sweeping vistas in the background tells you why you absolutely, positively, want to vote for whatever he’s selling. Regardless.) Jefferson has got to be spinning in his grave.
READ THE DAMN PROPOSITIONS BEFORE YOU VOTE, PEOPLE! PLEASE!!!
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer.
Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.
Inform yourselves, people!!
Elections are this week. Americans all over country will be heading to their local polling stations to cast their ballots, making incredibly important decisions based usually on what they think they learned from 30-second sound bites.
I don’t know about you, but this concerns me greatly.
In 1787 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his friend James Madison where he said “Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.” Two years later, in a letter to the British philosopher and minister Richard Price in 1789, Jefferson said that “…wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government.” The Library of Congress, the largest collection of books in the world today, was built upon the foundation of Jefferson’s personal library, when it acquired his books in 1815. It is extraordinarily clear that Jefferson felt that a viable democracy depended upon a well-informed citizenry.
So how is it that today very few voters truly inform themselves before they vote? This isn’t exclusively a “Republican” problem (although it seems clear there is an anti-science bias among many Republicans, with the denial of anthropogenic global warming, a scientific consensus on evolution and the like, but more about that in a later post); I think Democrats are just as guilty.
Exhibit A is the Proposition process here in California. Propositions are initiatives put onto the ballot by a signature process (if enough signatures are gathered supporting whatever is on the initiative, it gets to be voted on by the populace). It was enacted years ago to allow the general population to bypass the legislative process if they (the legislators) were unwilling or unable to act on something. In essence, The People can show their displeasure with their elected officials by direct vote. Propositions that pass automatically become law; the courts then sort out if something is unconstitutional after the fact, so in principle, there are checks and balances. It was a way for the general population to be heard, and was meant as a last resort if legislators were gridlocked or corrupt.
The unfortunate situation today is that in a population as large as California, it’s not that hard to get enough signatures, if you’ve got enough money to mount a statewide campaign. So for example, Big Oil can get an initiative on the ballot to free up offshore drilling by couching their initiative in “energy independence” terms and spending boatloads of cash on paid signature-gatherers. More boatloads of cash go into ad campaigns once the initiative makes it onto the ballot, and if worded properly (presumably with the help of focus groups and highly-paid consultants), almost anything can be made to sound attractive. Especially if most people base their voting decision on what they see in ads, rather than careful evaluation of the initiative itself. California even supplies non-partisan analyses, “simple wording” explanations and the opportunity to read pro and con comments by supporters and detractors, complete with rebuttals from the opposing parties.
But most people don’t even read the dumbed-down explanations. They decide what they’re going to vote for (or against) based on the ads run by proponents and/or opponents (cue dramatic music while a sincere-looking and trustworthy authority figure with sweeping vistas in the background tells you why you absolutely, positively, want to vote for whatever he’s selling. Regardless.) Jefferson has got to be spinning in his grave.
READ THE DAMN PROPOSITIONS BEFORE YOU VOTE, PEOPLE! PLEASE!!!
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer. Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.