Victor Milne:
>As I recall, this thread got started with a comment about many of the
voters
>seeming to be neither intelligent nor well-informed. I'm sure from many of
>his postings that Ed Weick did not mean this in an elitist sense.
No, I didn't mean it in an elitist sense. I meant it very much in the sense
of your posting. What often adds complexity to voter decision-making is the
choice between the candidate and the party. I've been faced with this on
more than one occasion. I wanted to vote for a party but I simply couldn't
stomach the candidate it was running. On one occasion I did not feel any of
the candidates were worthy of my vote so I spoiled my ballet.
What we have to realize in discussing this whole issue of governance is that
our system has evolved over several hundred years and is still evolving. It
is a very imperfect system, but it is the only one we have. For the most
part, we cherish it, flawed as it is. To take it away from us and give it
to some elite group, as Jay argues, would result either in rebellion and
chaos or the repression of a police state.
Yes, voters can be stupid and politicians can be stupid, but the right to
cast a free vote is not stupid.
Ed Weick
