Political Logic during elections Partisan -either Democratic or Republican: Here is why I favor candidate X Here is why the other candidate is bad for America Therefore, vote Democratic or Therefore vote Republican -------------------------------- Radical Centrist or principled Independent - like the League of Women Voters Here are the good things about the Democrat Here are the bad things about the Democrat Here are the good things about the Republican Here are the bad things about the Republican Therefore, based on plusses and minuses, I am voting for ----- OR Therefore, since each party's candidate is far more objectionable than not, I plan to vote for the Green, Constitution Party, etc., candidate OR I have looked at the third party candidates and actually think that Vince Vorple of the Know-Everything Party is objectively the best choice of all candidates. --------------------------- These are "pure" types of logic; in real life things are not so neat. A partisan, for instance, may simply tell you how terrible the other candidate is and, therefore, by default, the Democrat / Republican is the better choice. A Radical Centrist may know that the 5 step process is ideal but it takes time and effort and the easy way out may simply be to split his (or her) ticket based on limited knowledge of a few candidates but making sure that the Dem/GOP ticket splitting is no worse than about 55 - 45. What can be said, however, is that the easiest alternative of all is simply to pick out what you dislike about a candidate and leave it a that, hence by default the candidate you favor is the only rational choice. However, it is just as easy for your opponent to do exactly the same thing and, by default, his choice is the best because the other candidate is bad and here's the "proof," a negative article written by a partisan that criticizes the other party. Actually that is "proof" that proves nothing. The problem with the RC approach is the time it takes. The temptation is to take shortcuts. I do not know of a solution to this problem except to say that maybe the best imperfect policy is to actually research a few candidates -generally the top of the ticket- and decide based on very sketchy information on "down-ticket" candidates, seeking some approximation of 55 - 45 with a few "third party" choices in the mix. For your consideration Billy R.
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