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Journal pudge's Journal: (Don't) Rock the Vote 13

Journal by pudge

I don't understand the purpose of getting people interested in voting. It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I believe strongly that the more people engage in the political system, the better. But if you don't know what you are voting for, how is that engaging? How is that participating in any useful way? You're just causing noise. You are not participating in representative democracy, because you are not selecting the candidate who best represents you.

Let me be very clear: if you are not interested in politics, in understanding the differences between the candidates, then your vote is worse than no vote at all, and I would therefore strongly prefer you don't vote.

So I would prefer rule by the educated? Well, yes. But I would prefer that the majority of Americans were well-educated. I want everyone to vote, but I want them to be educated before they vote. The emphasis behind actions to increase participation should not be "vote." The emphasis should be "learn."

I know that people behind Rock the Vote say that is what they are doing. But I don't believe it is. I believe that is what they are trying to do, I just think they are doing a very poor job. Check out the home page. How many of those links actually educate?

And now that I look at it, the web site is especially partisan, too. It should be the "Rock the Vote against the Republicans" web site. That's not education, that's indoctrination. But that's really beside the point, because they don't educate anyway. They are nothing more than cheerleaders who say "yay, vote!"

The only thing worse than people not voting is people voting igorantly, which is what Rock the Vote is trying to do.

You think I'm making too big a deal out of this? If so, then was the last time you saw a political debate that informed, instead of attempted to sway via mere rhetoric or entertainment?

This discussion was created by pudge (3605) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

(Don't) Rock the Vote More

(Don't) Rock the Vote

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  • Red Sox (Score:2)

    by pudge ( 3605 ) *
    OK, case in point: the past several minutes, John Kerry has been talking about the Red Sox and whether he would have pulled Pedro from Game 7 of the ALCS, because a kid asked him that. Sigh.
    • Remember "Boxers or briefs?"

      Yup, let's go to the kiddies for the tough questions. Joke the Vote seems more appropriate sometimes.

      I can't stand listening to Kucinich. I can barely tolerate Dean. I do, however, like Clark.
  • I'd really like for people to WANT to learn. That's the problem as I see it. They don't learn about candidates and issues because they just don't want to. A quick soundbite or some biased editorial in their favorite paper is good enough for them. Digging deeper into public opinion on the candidate, speeches, and alternative news coverage is needed to fully understand a candidate - do they really do what they say? Is their past full of hypocrisy?

    So yeah, for me, it's about people wanting to learn, not j
    • I'd really like for people to WANT to learn.

      Absolutely. That is what I intended, thank you for making it clear. The love of learning, the love of knowledge, is key. I am homeschooling my daughter, and I am not as interested in teaching her math, science, etc. as I am in teaching her to want to learn.
  • I hope this isn't off topic here......

    But does it really matter?
    I mean, the Electroal have the vote, not the people.

    It would be one thing if we elected out electoral, but we don't.

    You right about the ignorant vote being worse than the educated vote. One thing we must accept is there will always be stupid people (including myself) who vote for people based on the most entertaining political campain spots on television.

    In regards to "Rock the Vote" which attempts to engage younge voters (or it did in my g
    • I mean, the Electroal have the vote, not the people.

      By proxy. And I am not limiting what I am saying only to the Presidential elections.

      In an imaginary society, it might be neat to have the right to vote based on the level of education. For example Ph.D's votes might have more weight than (say) a high-school drop out.

      I strongly disagree, and not just because of the U.S. history with literacy requirements. First, the obvious: there is no logic that says the person with a Ph.D. is more educated about
  • I went through the same thoughts when MTV started this whole Rock The Vote crap, which I thought even at the time was a cynical attempt to manipulate young adults into voting Democrat, which is easy, rather than teach them how to look into the issues that concern them and vote based on who they feel will best represent them, which is hard.

    I don't believe that making a mark on a ballot is all that it takes to become enfranchised, and I agree that the uneducated voter does far more damage to our system than

  • First, I'm not in the US and so I haven't seen the campaign you're talking about and it is highly likely that I would find it annoying too.

    But is it really possible to motivate someone (previously not interested in voting) to vote without instilling an increased desire to know (at least a little) more about what is going on and why they should vote one way or the other? And while there may not be a significant increase in level of education just to get them to the point of voting, I think the that the fact
    • But is it really possible to motivate someone (previously not interested in voting) to vote without instilling an increased desire to know (at least a little) more about what is going on and why they should vote one way or the other?

      I dunno, but they try. But I do think yes, many people vote because they think they should, not because they are interested in any particular issues.

      I think the that the fact that they have now voted gives them more of a sense of having a personal stake in political issues
      • most college students favor Bush right now

        Too bad college students don't vote :-)
        • The above was just a throwaway joke -- don't take it seriously

          Anyway, for a real response: I don't know if it's really that I'm more optimistic. I just think that participation is the beginning of education while you seem to prefer that participation be held off until education is essentially complete. If we can resolve this we will have solved most of the problems in theories of education. :-) How many people actually become properly educated voters? I don't know but 0% of the people who don't vote are pr
          • I just think that participation is the beginning of education while you seem to prefer that participation be held off until education is essentially complete.

            It is the beginning, if you don't care about voting, I guess. If you think voting is valuable, then voting ignorantly is anthema. The beginning is education. And no, education is never complete, it is a perpetual process. There are, of course, varying degrees, and no one is entirely ignorant or entirely educated. But at least try to understand a
  • From instapundit.com [instapundit.com] video here [instapundit.com] (WMV format only).

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