In Search of Rational Voters

I despair when I think our fate is in the hands of Wal-mart voters. Would it be wrong for people to have to take a test in order to vote? To have basic knowledge of 1) the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and 2) current events, and thus make a decision based on something other than "yeah, I'd have a beer with hIm any time!" I know this is an extreme view but I am extremely worried - how much more of our country do we lose before we do something about it? We the People better get it together and insist that the Wal-mart voter become educated. That voter has as much at stake as I do - he or she just doesn't know it.

The problem is not rationality. The problem is that too many people vote based on emotion rather than fact or logic. It is this situation that Karl Rove, and those like him, have exploited masterfully.

This election so far is once again about emotions rather than issues. One set of emotions relates to excitement about an appeal to our aspirations and hopes. The other emotions relate to identity and connection with kindred spirits. It is these latter emotions that the McCain campaign is appealing to. When the dialogue is about feelings rather than facts we make very bad choices. We allow our emotions to disregard the obvious and the difficult in favor of what is familiar and comforting.

This election finds us at a pivotal point in our history. Our vitality as a nation is under withering assault domestically and internationally. From the state of American education to foreign and economic affairs we are failing. If we do not turn the dynamics of this election towards the issues there will be grave consequences for our future. If we do not demand truth and accountability from the candidates we will squander our hard fought privilege of voting. If many in the media do not turn away from punditry, the petty and the sensational, in favor of educating us factually about the substantive differences between the candidates, they will fail us again as many did by becoming swept up in the emotions leading to the Iraq War.

The real choice in this election is whether the electorate will choose to rely on facts or feelings when they cast their ballots. Rick Davis, John McCain???s campaign manager, has said that ???This election is not about issues.??? We very much need to prove him wrong.

The difference between Dick Cheney and Sara Palin is Lipstick
The difference between Bush and McCain, none.
America you get what you wish for.

I think Obama would have won with a landslide if he would have had the security of not thinking Hillary would out shine him...Now Palin outshines him and he runs the possibility of another 4 years of Republicans.
i certainly not voting for obama and it has nothing to do with racism... I did not trust him from the start and I don't trust him now...Not enough experience and his associations are very questionable.!

I truly think that Americans (even the racist ones) would have voted for Obama in a landslide were it not for the whispering campaigns in email and the push polls that treat the madrassa story like it is reality. One poll said that one in eight still think he is a "secret Muslim" . This is from an ANONYMOUS EMAIL!!!! I f he loses because people have taken to believing anonymous emails, then we as a country don't deserve democracy! I find it incredibly ironic that the country that is dolling out democracy at gun point can so easily let its elections be hijacked by misinformation!

....................................It is easy to understand why so many of America's voters are not that happy with what has been going on with government and want to say something about it. The Bush Admistration stole the year 2000 election and started down a path of deception and lies along with their blunders for two terms in office and while entrenched they did many bad things to us and what is supposed to be this wonderful Country.
Now McCain surfaces and starts with the deception in his campaign again and appears on television telling us false things while blinking his eyes and trying to look as innocent as a child. America looks bad before the Nations of the World and Americans do not want McCain to carry on with Bushism for another four years.

WHALA.

I don't believe it is partisan to point out to you that the Republican party supported the Bush/Cheney Administration 100 % of the time, and McCain supported the Bush Administration 90% of the time.

I'll make it simple for you . Here's where Bush and McCain stand on key issues .

They agree on:

Abortion and judges
Diplomacy with Iran and Syria
The war in Iraq
The exit (if you can call it that) strategy in iraq
Education
Immigration . (He was for it before he was against it)
Energy and oil ( He was against it before he was for it).
Healthcare
Medicare
Social Security
Same Sex Marriage
Taxes
Trade
Wiretaping and Executive power

Where they disagree to an extent:

Guantanamo Detainees
Conduct of the Iraq war
Russian policy
Interrogating tactics
Federal Spending . When it comes to earmarks and pork-barrel spending only.

That is the extent of it.

Now altough we can not lebel the entire Republican Party as homogeneous, we can safely say that the Republican party supported the Bush Administration and can not run from that fact at the last second.

I understand what the Republican party is trying to do. The GOP is simply trying to hide on Sen. McCain's reputation of a maverick in the hope the American people are dumb enough to forget who supported the Bush Administration 100% of the time. Is a hard trick to pull out, but in America you never know.

OH, and wala. About your remark " Palin-- She truly represents the people of America. Palin believes there's no Global warming, is against abortion rights, believes we are on a mission from God in Iraq and fully supports Bush's policy and war, etc, etc. If that's what represents the American people ---- Then the American people you know are not the same one I know.

I voted for Obama therefore I most live in Tanzania or Botsuana because the guy does not represnt the American people. Only Palin does.

What do you know--- We live in different countries pal.

Matt01 - "He would not have got to the place he is at if he was not an inspiring speaker."

Iam not addressing Senator Obama's speaking skills, but I must point out the flaw in your argument. Many poorly spoken people have attained great position and power - our current president is a prime example.

I blame some, if not most of the public's misconceptions regarding politicians on the media. So much nonsense and irrelevant happenings and comments flow through the media every day. It used to be that the media only wrote about intelligent and substantive utterances. Now , they make a whole article about "pigs lips". They want to divulge every personal tidbit about each candidate for sensational reasons, instead of sticking to the politics. And they quote people without bothering to verify the truthfulness of the remark or comment. In the case of Iraq, the media should have reported the truth of the matter, instead of showing sound bites of Bush lying over and over.

Rational voters? What about an issue oriented press?

Why isn't there an article about HR 800? The democrats are pushing this to be law, and it will be law if Obama is elected. They want to eliminate the secret ballot in union elections.

That would pretty much mean that all businesses in the US will become union shops. Another hand in the worker's pocket. Can they afford that?

Here's a question I've never seen answered to my satisfaction:

If the founding fathers believed in the wisdom of the common people, why is it that we don't elect the Supreme Court at all, we don't directly elect the President, we've only elected the Senate for the past century or so, and that the only federal body that has been directly elected from the beginning, the House of Representatives, is also the body that applies the fewest checks on the others?

The answer, of course, is that the founding fathers, rightly, distrusted and feared the common people and deliberately set out to limit the damage they can do.

Based on voting trends over the last 56 years, voters DO NOT trust Democratic candidates, having shot them down in flames 2 out of every 3 elections over the last quarter of American constitutional history. Is seems that Democrats are on the far, the very far side, of the bell-shaped curve.

I wonder what effect emails have on how voters think? I know I've gotten some really bizarre claims, but some were very thoughtful.