Voting
Well, I stopped by the polling place before work and found myself wondering how many trees were killed just for my district. As I walked the path into the library, numerous party volunteers pressed literature on me, each clamoring for my attention. I found myself wishing I wore hoops, making such a close approach more difficult. Now, admittedly, this year the primaries are fiercely contested, but I felt mobbed. I was very glad I already had done my homework, because I found being mobbed very disconcerting.
Afterwards, out of curiosity, I looked at the leaflets that had been thrust so aggressively at me, and noted that only two contained any information at all other than a suggested ballot (and I didn't wholly agree with the suggested ballots, either.) And both of those were for candidates that I felt were actually addressing some local issues that need work and was voting for anyway. Now, yes, one should do one's homework ahead of time, but most folks have, you know, an actual life going on and may not care to sit down and do all the research. I was appalled at the lack of information - only pretty glossy photos of the recommended candidates. Yikes.
Afterwards, out of curiosity, I looked at the leaflets that had been thrust so aggressively at me, and noted that only two contained any information at all other than a suggested ballot (and I didn't wholly agree with the suggested ballots, either.) And both of those were for candidates that I felt were actually addressing some local issues that need work and was voting for anyway. Now, yes, one should do one's homework ahead of time, but most folks have, you know, an actual life going on and may not care to sit down and do all the research. I was appalled at the lack of information - only pretty glossy photos of the recommended candidates. Yikes.
posted by Plain Foolish | 7:20 AM
2 Comments:
Isn't it just terrible?? All that glossy junk, everywhere! THe most important thins seems to be having photos of the candidate with their kids - heaven help anyone with political aspirations who hasn't managed (or chosen!) to reproduce!
And so little information!!! Why not actually talk about an issue somewhere???
I went this year to my local senate district convention, and there was glossy junk plastered everywhere, and people handing out buttons all over the place. When one of these people asked me if they could count on my support, I asked her why she was supporting the candidate, what made her different from other democrats, and she seemed a bit baffled. If I was going to dress up and accost people all day I would have to sure as heck be able to say something I liked about the person.
There was one guy who didn't have any of the campaign literature, he had a simply xeroxed sheet of paper with his basic position on numerous issues, and I almost kissed him! he was wonderful, of course he was out of the running in the first round, and considered something of a joke, it was so sad (now, I don't think he had a lot of experience or anything else, I don't think he was the candidate I would have chosen based on all the actual information, but I just LOVED him for attempting to provide it, and to run a campaign without all the extraneous BS....
sigh.
peace
Pam
I feel like it's the same thing as the brands post below, where I seem to have put my foot in my mouth. All sheen and glinty smiles, and next to nothing on the actual issues. I'm lucky, I suppose, in that the folks who actually are addressing issues are people I want to vote for.
While my district is not quite so hyped as the Connecticut district which recently voted its distaste for Joseph Lieberman's war-advocacy, we are facing the same issue here.
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