The one thing that frustrates me the most in this world (today) is: Pearl street after snow fall. I angrily drove around in desperate search for a parking spot this afternoon. I had multiple things working against me. One, my truck has no weight in the back, so it is impossible for me to park on an incline where snow might transform into ice during the night. Two, I am down here early, around 2:00 p.m. and the meters run until 7:00 p.m. I will be here until at least 11:00 p.m. so I have to pay for five hours worth of meter time because the streets off Pearl have construction, too much snow, and no available parking. So I drove around for at least a half hour looking for a spot to park my truck that would work in the long run of the evening. At least it is the last week of school and the last week of my internship. I had mentioned that if the snow fell three weeks prior, I would've probably quit school and never earned my degree, primarily based on my truck's snow performance, and parking availability on and off campus.
That frustration aside, I've taken a deeper interest in politics recently. I scour several online news Web sites daily, as well as listen to NPR in my truck while I adventure the winter streets. It subsides my daily driving anger. As I typed that sentence, it dawned on me that this post could be used in court, if someone were to find my blog, after trying me for running over several Boulder pedestrians, purely for sport. I'll just have to make a mental note to delete this blog with haste, if that is to occur.
On the subject of politics, I wrote a page long news and politics trivia test, that also included capitals and historical dates. I gave it out to interested people at work. I wasn't trying to make people feel stupid, I was merely trying to point out how involved Americans are in the bigger picture. Most of the people at my work have a degree, and those who either do, or are working on one did fairly well on the test. Only about three people filled in half the test, and of that portion received a 40% or better. Most people could answer a lot of the questions, but capitals, even ones like Japan's capital or Iraq's capital eluded even some of the smarter test-takers.
It raises the question: Should Americans have the right to vote or should it be a privilege? Well, I believe that all Americans should have the freedom to participate in the democratic process. It is our country's purpose, after all, to enforce Democracy across the world and at home. It is, however, the responsibility of Americans to at the very least, pay attention to news and politics. Someone once said: "Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%." Why is it unreasonable for Americans to have to take a politics or news test prior to being eligible to vote each election term? It should require Americans to have to complete a test and score 80% or better on the listed questions in order to make a decision for our next President. I know it wouldn't work, because most Americans vote either Democratic or Republican, no matter what. Other Americans just simply don't care, so you'd only have educated Americans making the decisions for a large population of American citizens, and that just sounds terrible, doesn't it?
I was thinking recently that Americans would be more involved in politics if someone, somehow created a reality TV show featuring the candidates. It would be hard to feature a fair and balanced look at the political candidates, because all of them would have to have equal air-time. The director would have to be objective, but would it be as hard as it sounds? I'd say, get rid of those stupid ads bashing candidates, make a reality TV show that gets personal with the candidates and exposes every aspect of their life, and let America text their votes. Haha, it sounds unlikely today, but I don't think it's impossible in the future to have something like this. It'd probably happen in Germany first, everything happens there first. It's at least worth a thought.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
in my political science classes we would discuss questions like this a lot and i think one of the most interesting questions that comes out of it is what information do people actually need to make good decisions when voting? and by good decisions i guess i mean picking the option that best meets your needs and desires. but i think it's an interesting thing to consider, in particular from my standpoint because, not gonna lie, i ALWAYS fail those tests!!! hehehe, i have no idea who my actual mayor is or city council member or the captial of iraq--oh i am an embarassment to the political science alumni!!!! hehehe
but i think ultimately what is most important is that all people, whether informed or not do know (or at least arguably have some sense) of their particular needs and what would make them better off. and so that's a lot of knowledge to start with. also we read studies of some sort that show people use a lot of silly sounding tactics to vote but often they are picking the candidate or side that an outsider would objectively say is logical and in their best interests (take that for what it is cuz that's certainly hard to measure).
also sometimes i think our system is set up to just move along and slowly progress despite the people--you know? yes healthcare would likley be better if we all knew what the fuck was going on, but even without it, the system is surviving and it evolving all on its own.
but so yes, i love these issues and i think the answer is just so much more difficult that it seems. if your interested and have time (which i'm sure you don't really) but there are really fantastic studies by political scientists who research how people vote and how "effective" it is. then debating ideals--who should get to vote, how we should decide.
very interesting my friend:)
stace
Post a Comment