[CrackMonkey] Gar! (Election Rant)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Michael Jennings (mej at valinux.com):

> Of course, there are those whose logic basically equates to, "If you
> see a lot of commercials for a particular ballot item, vote the other
> way."  The justification being that big business is usually working
> against our own good.  But noting the number of "No on Knight"
> commercials I saw vs. the fact that I didn't see any "Yes on 22"
> commercials, I think the conclusion derived therefrom is obvious.

All that tells you is that somebody (with cash to spend) smells a swing
vote.

That is, in many (most?) elections, there is a large body of probable
voters who will be willing to vote on a whim, if persuaded, in contrast
to the remaining voters who consider themselves informed and have
entrenched positions.  The ads are never aimed at those with existing,
thought-out views:  They're aimed at voters _without_ existing views
on the subject.  Those are presumed (reasonably so) to be 
unsophisticated, which in turn explains why the appeal made to them
is likewise.

Therefore, if you are persuaded by such commercials, you win the booby
prize.  If you are persuaded to the contrary position by such
commercials, you win an equal and opposite booby prize.

The long-term remedy is to drill into people that if they feel they 
do not understand an issue _well_, their default decision should be
to avoid voting on it.  _Not_, I should stress, default to voting "no".

> I guess I look at it more as such:  It's not the government taking
> advantage of the people, it's the people taking advantage of the
> people.

Every time I hear those lottery ads on the radio, I think "_My_ tax
dollars are paying my state government to try to con _me_."
Infuriating, and completely unacceptable.  

The time is long overdue to purge such scumminess _out_ of the state
government.  With a machete, if necessary.  If you want to deal with con
artists, go to midtown Manhattan and look for the Monte games on the
streets.

-- 
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