How to be a Better Voter in One Weekend
As Danny Kahneman so expertly addressed in his masterpiece Thinking Fast and Slow, people who believe they are not affected by advertising might be less likely to critically evaluate ads, making them actually more vulnerable to their persuasive power.
If we want to be good voters, we need to vote for effective leaders who will actually make decisions in line with our philosophies of government. But how do we cut through all the advertising to get to the meat of the matter?
I’ll suggest three strategies that will give you a foundation from which to start thinking more critically about this:
First: Understand the Office
Do you know what the President of the United States is actually making decisions about in the day-to-day? Who creates the laws that affect your city? Your county? Your state? If you are worried, for instance, that your state governor is going to change the traffic or zoning for your city, you’re very likely wrong.
Every office has their rule book. Here are some quick resources for understanding the main government offices:
— What do the US President and US Congress do?: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-executive-branch/
— What does the US Supreme Court do?: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-judicial-branch/#:~:text=Although%20the%20Supreme%20Court%20may,a%20law%20should%20be%20applied
— What do State Governors do? https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-does-a-governor-do
— What do State Legislative Bodies do? https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislature
— What do Mayors & City Councils do? https://ballotpedia.org/Mayor-council_government#:~:text=In%20a%20mayor%2Dcouncil%20government,government%20that%20a%20city%20uses
Second: Understand Your Own Philosophies & Their Practical Effects
Before you even think about a given political race, a candidate, or a proposed bill or amendment, STOP. Give yourself a few minutes to start with the basics: why do we have governments? What do you believe about government and their role in society? Don’t just think about yourself and your situation; dig deeper and think about others, and not just now but throughout history.
Here are some questions that might help get you thinking:
— What is government’s role in spending, protection of its people, support of its people? What would society look like if government did not pay for (and did not collect taxes for) things like military, streets, law enforcement, schools, libraries, etc.?
— Who should get a say in how government is run, and to what degree? In a total democracy, what happens to the voice of the minority? In a total republic, dictatorship, or similar, who is accountable to the voice of the majority?
— What kinds of government have internal provisions for self-correction?
— For the US specifically, which government interventions are better with uniformity between states (e.g. federally-controlled) and which would be better handled with less uniformity?
— What are the pros and cons of term limits, spending limits, and other limitations on government offices?
Now, regardless of the philosophies that sit best with you, do not forget that all government interventions are, at the end of the day, logistical.
You can believe all you want in a philosophy, but you also have to understand that it’s going to be implemented in the real world, with real people, as they currently are.
Consider the all-too-common phrase that ignores this reality: “If you don’t like it, you can leave.”
This is a ridiculous notion, even in today’s global society. A person’s life, livelihood, and vital emotional and social connections are still significantly based on their geographic location. People, as a general rule, cannot just up and leave the places where they live. We need to learn to live together.
Whether we’re discussing rules about government spending, national security, poverty, health, education, or anything else, we cannot end the discussion on one of pure philosophy. The rules we make have to actually work, in society, with the way people currently are.
Third: Vote as They Do; Not as They Say
Now to the most important part: If you don’t want to fall victim to advertising, as Danny Kahneman warns, you have to get past the platitudes and the rhetoric and the name-calling and the quips and get to the heart and soul of a political office: its decisions.
One of my least favorite things about what we seem to expect from our candidates today is that we want them to be able to immediately spew out all the answers to every divisive issue they’re questioned about, on the spot. Where is the candidate who confidently says “That’s a very important issue, and I would want to learn a lot more about it before I could give you my position, BUT what I can say is that I would seek very good advice from [multiple people and sides of the issue] before deciding”? Do we really think every candidate should already have all the answers to everything? Do they make decisions in a vacuum?
But I digress.
What this really comes down to is that a LOT of politicians have a LOT to say. But if you want to cut through the advertising, you’ll get a lot more information by looking at what they’ve DONE.
Sure, check out their websites and read their philosophies. This is important. But don’t stop there. Check out their voting records, their previous actions, their actual decisions.
Then: Vote based on the actions; not the impression. This is why I say to write down your philosophies before diving into the background of the candidates. If you find yourself surprised that the actions of your candidate are different than the impression you’ve been left with, that might be you realizing you’ve been “had” by advertising.
Did you know that Obama’s administration was one of the toughest on immigration and asylum-seekers in the last couple of decades? I am guessing you didn’t. Through the loud voices — many of which are not even endorsed by the candidates themselves, by the way — we so often get an impression of a person without really knowing how they act in their position of leadership. Cut through the impression. Find the reality.
BallotPedia is the best resource I have found for checking on actual prior voting records for any given candidate. Simply search the candidate and scroll to the Key Votes section to see official records of prior decisions. You can even put in your location, and the site will show you all the decisions you have before you, together with **factual only** information about each person or decision:
BALLOTPEDIA: https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page
And don’t forget this too: politicians are humans. If they’ve changed their minds, that’s not always a bad thing. Shouldn’t we leave room for politicians to learn and grow?
Okay, that’s all the political talk I can muster for today. Happy voting!
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