How to vote
From what I've been able to determine, most people think they know this. Also, from what I've been able to determine, most people don't know how to do it in a way that actually benefits them. So, as a public service, I've decided to help. It'll take about one hour to do it right, some time before an election, and it'll pay off.
1) Throw out all the crap you've ever heard about who does what. You've heard that the Democrats are the party of the working man? Throw it out. You've heard that Republicans are better on national defense? Throw it out. And keep going. Start off at baseline, assume that neither side is going to do anything or is for anyone. Parties change positions, and individual politicians are often going to differ from their party on a few issues.
2) Figure out what you're for and what you're against. Just get a piece of paper and write down things you care about. It doesn't matter what they are. Get as detailed as you want. If you are concerned about your city's murder rate, put that down. If you want to make ferret ownership legal, or stop urban sprawl, or increase the minimum wage, or start drilling for oil in Alaska, or stop people from owning handguns... just write that stuff down. Then, when you feel comfortable with the list of stuff you care about, put it in some kind of order. Figure out what you care about most. Don't spend more than five minutes on this. If you can't think of stuff that matters to you within five minutes, it probably doesn't really matter that much to you. If you weren't specific, if you said you cared about generalizations like "liberty" or "the environment" without being specific about them, you're going to discover you wasted your time, because all major parties are going to be for those things. They're going to disagree on the specifics.
3) Find out what the different party platforms are on your topics. This should be pretty quick, because both parties will have web sites up. Work through all the bull that will be there, and find out what their actual position is. If they don't have a position, and their opponent does, don't just assume that the uncertain party's position is what you want. On the contrary, it's safest to assume that they'll do exactly what you don't want. They're trying to play you by not stating a position; don't be played.
This is important only because when the people you elect get into office, they're going to be pushed by the other people in their parties to vote with the rest of the party. And, in order to get influence on other votes and get money for re-election, a lot of the time they'll vote in line with the party over what they stated back when they were running.
This should run you about ten minutes, most of which will be trying to cut through the bull on the web sites to find out what they're really saying.
4) Find out what the individual candidates you can vote for have actually done, in terms of their voting record. It's important here NOT to use campaign ads, because both sides will be lying their asses off. So, where do you discover the voting record, at the last minute? Well, most of the stuff you wrote down, that you cared about, will have political action groups associated with them. Whether it's a committee for preventing people from owning handguns or a committe to drill in Alaska, all you have to do is do a web search for the thing you care about. The committees and groups will be there, somewhere, on the list you pulled up. When election time draws near, they always have lists of key laws which were proposed, and who voted how. Note, if you're concerned about something local for a local election, remember to put in your state or county. Finding a coalition to legalize ferrets as pets is worthless if that coalition is for Maryland and you're in California.
This will probably run you about thirty minutes.
5) Find out, on the candidate's web sites, if they've actually got propositions for dealing with the stuff you care about, and if so, their intentions. Again, assume that if they haven't got a position, it means they disagree with you. This shouldn't run more than five minutes.
6) Take the information you've gathered, and using that and that only, decide who you want to vote for. Almost always, you'll find out that you agree with one person on one topic, and their opponent on another, and on some topics none of the candidates agree with you. That's normal. What you're voting for is the person who best represents what matters to you.
This process works whether you've barely paid attention at all to politics, or if you're paying attention every day. Ideally, as mentioned in the previous post, you are paying some attention, because it'll give you a better idea of what arguments are out there, and maybe make you more informed come voting time. But even if you aren't, using this process should get you the best results from your vote.
1) Throw out all the crap you've ever heard about who does what. You've heard that the Democrats are the party of the working man? Throw it out. You've heard that Republicans are better on national defense? Throw it out. And keep going. Start off at baseline, assume that neither side is going to do anything or is for anyone. Parties change positions, and individual politicians are often going to differ from their party on a few issues.
2) Figure out what you're for and what you're against. Just get a piece of paper and write down things you care about. It doesn't matter what they are. Get as detailed as you want. If you are concerned about your city's murder rate, put that down. If you want to make ferret ownership legal, or stop urban sprawl, or increase the minimum wage, or start drilling for oil in Alaska, or stop people from owning handguns... just write that stuff down. Then, when you feel comfortable with the list of stuff you care about, put it in some kind of order. Figure out what you care about most. Don't spend more than five minutes on this. If you can't think of stuff that matters to you within five minutes, it probably doesn't really matter that much to you. If you weren't specific, if you said you cared about generalizations like "liberty" or "the environment" without being specific about them, you're going to discover you wasted your time, because all major parties are going to be for those things. They're going to disagree on the specifics.
3) Find out what the different party platforms are on your topics. This should be pretty quick, because both parties will have web sites up. Work through all the bull that will be there, and find out what their actual position is. If they don't have a position, and their opponent does, don't just assume that the uncertain party's position is what you want. On the contrary, it's safest to assume that they'll do exactly what you don't want. They're trying to play you by not stating a position; don't be played.
This is important only because when the people you elect get into office, they're going to be pushed by the other people in their parties to vote with the rest of the party. And, in order to get influence on other votes and get money for re-election, a lot of the time they'll vote in line with the party over what they stated back when they were running.
This should run you about ten minutes, most of which will be trying to cut through the bull on the web sites to find out what they're really saying.
4) Find out what the individual candidates you can vote for have actually done, in terms of their voting record. It's important here NOT to use campaign ads, because both sides will be lying their asses off. So, where do you discover the voting record, at the last minute? Well, most of the stuff you wrote down, that you cared about, will have political action groups associated with them. Whether it's a committee for preventing people from owning handguns or a committe to drill in Alaska, all you have to do is do a web search for the thing you care about. The committees and groups will be there, somewhere, on the list you pulled up. When election time draws near, they always have lists of key laws which were proposed, and who voted how. Note, if you're concerned about something local for a local election, remember to put in your state or county. Finding a coalition to legalize ferrets as pets is worthless if that coalition is for Maryland and you're in California.
This will probably run you about thirty minutes.
5) Find out, on the candidate's web sites, if they've actually got propositions for dealing with the stuff you care about, and if so, their intentions. Again, assume that if they haven't got a position, it means they disagree with you. This shouldn't run more than five minutes.
6) Take the information you've gathered, and using that and that only, decide who you want to vote for. Almost always, you'll find out that you agree with one person on one topic, and their opponent on another, and on some topics none of the candidates agree with you. That's normal. What you're voting for is the person who best represents what matters to you.
This process works whether you've barely paid attention at all to politics, or if you're paying attention every day. Ideally, as mentioned in the previous post, you are paying some attention, because it'll give you a better idea of what arguments are out there, and maybe make you more informed come voting time. But even if you aren't, using this process should get you the best results from your vote.
posted by AM | 8:27 PM
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