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Back in the 18th century, I wouldn't have known jack shit about the people running for President of the United States. I would have known whom I liked and trusted in my local community. So I would have voted for the brightest among them to be an Elector, and they would have gone off to D.C. and chosen a president.
Now, thanks to technology, we have mass media. This tends to centralize things. Newspapers are regional, but they buy a lot of content from A.P. etc., and report on what other newspapers report on. Radio stations, likewise. We now have TV. We have cable TV with 500 channels. We have Internet and e-mails making rounds from friend to friend until it circles the globe.
Also, people move a lot more frequently, and farther, and have family spread all over the country.
Thus, now, I know a great deal about the people running for president, and I don't know jack shit about the people in politics at my local level. I have been bombarded with so much information about the 2 men who are really in the running for President that I'M QUITE SURE WHICH ONE I PREFER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. On the other hand, barring any new and striking information that comes my way in the next couple of days, my decision process when I get to the polls and have to vote for local candidates will be: I don't know anything about these people, but I'm voting for the Democrats, straight-ticket, just because they are less likely to side with the Republican governor, Mitt Romney, whom I know I don't like because he supports George W. Bush. I was not prejudiced against Romney on account of party when he was elected in 2002-- I honestly looked at the stated positions of each candidate, and didn't vote for the Democrat-- and just look at what we got, just another mouthpiece for Bush on Beacon Hill! I am more politically aware and active than the average American, and I would be willing to put in the extra effort to learn about local candidates if it would do any good, but I feel burned by the Romney thing. Oh, I see, "Republican" is just shorthand for "will stand with Bush no matter how outrageous and idiotic Bush is being, when push comes to shove", huh? It will be a long time before I'm trusting enough to vote for anyone other than the leading non-Republican ever again; any other vote is a vote for the neoconservative agenda personified by Bush.
What a reversal from "all politics is local". Sounds more like "all politics is national" in my case. Pollsters have observed that the incidence of ticket-splitting is way, way down, so I think most people are acting like I am-- just jerking the straight-ticket lever in reaction to what they see about the prominent national politicians. Democrats and Republicans alike are doing this.
So you see, even when the people we vote for at a local level have names and faces and personalities and you could easily go talk to them in person, they are barely more than proxies for Bush and Kerry. Of course, members of the Electoral College have been just proxies for a long time; this whole rant just speaks to why there won't ever be any clamor for having the actual names of the actual electors cluttering up the ballot.
The Electoral College is dead. It is stinking and attracting flies and maggots. Let's bury it.
Now, thanks to technology, we have mass media. This tends to centralize things. Newspapers are regional, but they buy a lot of content from A.P. etc., and report on what other newspapers report on. Radio stations, likewise. We now have TV. We have cable TV with 500 channels. We have Internet and e-mails making rounds from friend to friend until it circles the globe.
Also, people move a lot more frequently, and farther, and have family spread all over the country.
Thus, now, I know a great deal about the people running for president, and I don't know jack shit about the people in politics at my local level. I have been bombarded with so much information about the 2 men who are really in the running for President that I'M QUITE SURE WHICH ONE I PREFER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. On the other hand, barring any new and striking information that comes my way in the next couple of days, my decision process when I get to the polls and have to vote for local candidates will be: I don't know anything about these people, but I'm voting for the Democrats, straight-ticket, just because they are less likely to side with the Republican governor, Mitt Romney, whom I know I don't like because he supports George W. Bush. I was not prejudiced against Romney on account of party when he was elected in 2002-- I honestly looked at the stated positions of each candidate, and didn't vote for the Democrat-- and just look at what we got, just another mouthpiece for Bush on Beacon Hill! I am more politically aware and active than the average American, and I would be willing to put in the extra effort to learn about local candidates if it would do any good, but I feel burned by the Romney thing. Oh, I see, "Republican" is just shorthand for "will stand with Bush no matter how outrageous and idiotic Bush is being, when push comes to shove", huh? It will be a long time before I'm trusting enough to vote for anyone other than the leading non-Republican ever again; any other vote is a vote for the neoconservative agenda personified by Bush.
What a reversal from "all politics is local". Sounds more like "all politics is national" in my case. Pollsters have observed that the incidence of ticket-splitting is way, way down, so I think most people are acting like I am-- just jerking the straight-ticket lever in reaction to what they see about the prominent national politicians. Democrats and Republicans alike are doing this.
So you see, even when the people we vote for at a local level have names and faces and personalities and you could easily go talk to them in person, they are barely more than proxies for Bush and Kerry. Of course, members of the Electoral College have been just proxies for a long time; this whole rant just speaks to why there won't ever be any clamor for having the actual names of the actual electors cluttering up the ballot.
The Electoral College is dead. It is stinking and attracting flies and maggots. Let's bury it.
