I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of President Bush's supporters believe the U.S. has come up with "clear evidence" that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Qaeda. A third of the president's supporters believe weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. And more than a third believe that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion.
This came from this article in the New York Times. Obviously it would be helpful to know some more details (like sample size) about the survey, but University of Maryland is pretty reputable.
It must make you despair, living in the Land of the Free but having to flip a coin between two over-paid, over-compromised, over-processed choices every 4 years. At least in a coalition government there is a chance the people might be heard through one of the smaller partners. At least there is a small but genuine distribution of power to allow balance. The USA seems to be largely smoke and mirrors between congress and senate and the government and even the justice system (new justices of the Supreme Court are appointed along partisan lines depending on which president is in).
The Land of the Free appears to be operated by the Law of Averages. It would be interesting to do a chimp experiment. Get a bunch of chimps, make them watch as much of the campaign coverage as possible, and then have them vote. I bet the results would be roughly 50/50. Either that, or the chimps would vote for Shakespeare and his promise of more typewriters.
(A third party candidate? Fools! Throw your vote away!)
I think a lot of the voting thing is the system too. It's on a tuesday and there are delays of up to 9 hours, so a lot of people are going to go - can't do it, have to work. And it's overly complicated. Stupid system. You should read Fast Food Nation, it's the story of the evolution of fast food in USA but is also a v interesting look into the way the US works. I can lend it to you if you want?
Posted by: Emba at November 10, 2004 07:47 AMyeah! why is it on a tuesday?!? ridiculous. I laughed and laughed at that episode of the simpsons! Also did you see the one where krusty was running for congress? The way they represented fox news is STILL making me laugh even as I think about it!!!!
"That's a very...ADULTEROUS point of view"
There's other stuff too - like in Texas you can't vote if you've been in jail and in Florida (Governed by Jeb Bush) this time you could only vote in certain specific polling booths and it was overly complicated so a lot of people didn't bother. Not like in NZ, where you can rock up anywhere and vote. Stupid system, stupid country!
Posted by: Emba at November 10, 2004 09:41 AMAmerica is like a large, gawky teenagers that thinks the world revolves around him but has a sneaking, growing suspicion that it might not. This insecurity leads to him seeking attention through negative behaviour (i.e. killing half a million children a year and thinking it's an 'acceptable cost' of democracy and the American way).
In a couple hundred years the USA will hit young adulthood - and if we're lucky, it'll be the kind of young adult that prefers not to drown in its own crapulence.
Posted by: phreq at November 10, 2004 02:50 PMThanks
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