OK, I voted. Time for my obnoxious election day screed. I stopped to grab a bite a little while ago and a gent in a nearby booth was on the phone. He was talking to someone who apparently wanted voting advice. Here’s pretty much how the side of the conversation I could hear went. “OK, yeah, so for US Senate I got Dan Sullivan. For Congress I got Don Young. He’s the real deal. Yeah, he’s the guy who took that school to task for not sticking up for that kid up in … Wasilla, I think. He’s a good one. For governor I got Parnell and Sullivan. Yeah, I don’t know what the deal is with that … with that guy. I mean, he’s lieutenant governor already, so … but anyway that’s whose running with Parnell. The other guy is full of shit. He’s a good talker, but it’s all shit. I don’t know. I don’t know. Just sounds like shit to me. Over in your district, even though he’s a Democrat, I’d go with Kato. Yeah. Kato. He’s a Democrat, but he’s pretty sensible. “On the pot thing, I’m actually voting yes. I mean they’re making criminals out of these 18-year-old kids. I mean, set ‘em straight, but don’t send 18-year-old kids to prison … ” That’s when I got up to leave. So, I don’t begrudge the guy his choices, or even the fact that he’s apparently trying to help an uninformed voter out, but the problem is, he’s clearly pretty uninformed, too. Whether or not you like Don, this guy clearly has no idea what happened in Wasilla. Is that relevant? That’s for you to decide. He clearly also thinks that one Dan Sullivan is running for US Senate and lieutenant governor (and that he’s already lieutenant governor right now). He also thinks Sam Kito III is … Sam Kato. He also thinks the initiative to regulate marijuana in Alaska will stop the state from sending all these 18 year olds to prison … I’m not saying the guy has made bad choices (apparently for two people), but I have to question the information upon which he based those choices. This is why I’m not a rabid supporter of the GOTV philosophy. I understand the sentiment, and I admire the incredible effort people make to increase voter turnout. Still, I’d prefer at least that much effort be applied to informing, educating and strengthening the electorate. I would be way happier if the majority of voters got their information from sources other than television, radio and print advertising – in fact, I’d be way happier if there was a complete ban on such advertising. I’d be way happier if all local elections were funded by way of local fundraising only and if statewide and national elections were publicly funded. OK, I’m about to go off the rails here with all my crazy wishes for a better process for selecting our government, so I’ll quit. So, yeah, get out there and vote. It matters. But please make an effort to understand for what/whom you’re voting, and if you haven’t made that effort, stop giving advice – a coin toss is better than bad advice.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:10:36 +0000