More on Political Campaigns
...My peeves against yard sign campaigning[1] are only amplified by the fact that it costs money to run such advertising.
I very rarely ever read any sort of "news". But today, I noticed online that, apparently, the current governor of MD had gained a million dollars in funds illegally for campaigning. Even returning that million dollars, he still has at least a million in his campaigning fund, whereas the mayor of Baltimore, his opponent, has $600,000. Because the TV companies charge a fortune for running campaign ads, they predict that the governor will have an unfair advantage. If people are as brainless as statisticians and marketing pros reveal they are, then many of the governor's reelection votes will come indirectly from the amount of money he spends and not from any cognitive decision based on facts from the voters.
And while this is not the presidential election, it still reminds me of how the founding fathers never intended that the people directly elect all their officials. That would make it a democracy, something they all despised. They intended that the people elect representatives and electors, people who knew and understood politics better than the common folk.[2]
One might argue that the communication age has changed all that. But I think it is just a matter of pride that people assume they really understand all the issues and the things going on in the world. As a scientist, it is shocking to me how ignorant the masses are to scientific issues. I suppose it is probably equally shocking to diplomats how ignorant the masses are to real foreign policy and how it works. I frankly don't know jack about the Middle East or terrorism. I don't presume to know for certain whether there should have been a war or not or when or for how long. Isn't it better to trust people you know to trust the people they know to do the work in the fields they know?
But not only are we deceived into thinking we have any idea what is really going on, we are also deceived by the politicians themselves. We do not know anyone running for office, much less can we trust them. And they talk more about how the other guy is evil than about how we can trust that they will represent us well.
Which brings up another peeve -- the saving of "dirt" on each other until fitting times. Don't misunderstand me; I think that hypocritical and/or corrupt politicians should be punished and expelled and brought to light. It is just that this always seems to magically occur right before an election.
Anyhow, there's really no point in me rambling about all this. Sorry for the rant. But the good news is that I finally did a full 4 public entries this week! Woohoo!
I very rarely ever read any sort of "news". But today, I noticed online that, apparently, the current governor of MD had gained a million dollars in funds illegally for campaigning. Even returning that million dollars, he still has at least a million in his campaigning fund, whereas the mayor of Baltimore, his opponent, has $600,000. Because the TV companies charge a fortune for running campaign ads, they predict that the governor will have an unfair advantage. If people are as brainless as statisticians and marketing pros reveal they are, then many of the governor's reelection votes will come indirectly from the amount of money he spends and not from any cognitive decision based on facts from the voters.
And while this is not the presidential election, it still reminds me of how the founding fathers never intended that the people directly elect all their officials. That would make it a democracy, something they all despised. They intended that the people elect representatives and electors, people who knew and understood politics better than the common folk.[2]
One might argue that the communication age has changed all that. But I think it is just a matter of pride that people assume they really understand all the issues and the things going on in the world. As a scientist, it is shocking to me how ignorant the masses are to scientific issues. I suppose it is probably equally shocking to diplomats how ignorant the masses are to real foreign policy and how it works. I frankly don't know jack about the Middle East or terrorism. I don't presume to know for certain whether there should have been a war or not or when or for how long. Isn't it better to trust people you know to trust the people they know to do the work in the fields they know?
But not only are we deceived into thinking we have any idea what is really going on, we are also deceived by the politicians themselves. We do not know anyone running for office, much less can we trust them. And they talk more about how the other guy is evil than about how we can trust that they will represent us well.
Which brings up another peeve -- the saving of "dirt" on each other until fitting times. Don't misunderstand me; I think that hypocritical and/or corrupt politicians should be punished and expelled and brought to light. It is just that this always seems to magically occur right before an election.
Anyhow, there's really no point in me rambling about all this. Sorry for the rant. But the good news is that I finally did a full 4 public entries this week! Woohoo!