erectlocution ⊇ boxing jewels

I think fluff is all that’s left in elections today. You’ll hear candidates talk about their economic and foreign policy plans all day long, but they rarely discuss their contents.

“I have a plan to reduce spending by 4 gagillion percent”, “I will increase spending in your county’s school district to 30 bagillion dollars”, “I will meet with your mayor in the first month of my presidency”, but how much of that is really going to happen?

Most voters aren’t going to dig too deeply into the candidates’ promises (nor will the press, I fear), so we’re left basically making judgements of their character. I think this is why Obama has amassed such a huge movement, the “issues” are all a huge mess so seeing someone who at least doesn’t appear utterly incompetent (and often appears poised and stately) can make for a big following.

I don’t think we, as voters, will ever get a clear, unbiased picture of our options so we do have to make fluff-based judgements. But then again, the president doesn’t just sit in the Oval Office and make decision after decision. More important is their ability to attract great people and listen, and that seems fluffy enough to make this a really exciting election.

Posted by Thame on 15 May 2008 @ 1pm

I wonder if we couldn’t strip out “left” and “today” from your first sentence. It’s easy for us to make presumptions about the state of things currently as compared to some mythical past; but I’m not terribly convinced. Just a thought.

Any electoral system serving even just a single million, let alone 300 of ‘em, will be a morass of confused intent and bloated effort. That is, I’m not certain the votes of citizens scales well; but, of course, I can’t conceive of a worthier alternative. There’s a threshold beyond which the statistically insignificant become otherwise significant, a critical number at whose achivement even minority concerns are writ large on the culture’s mind.

There are efforts to provide all the relevant data of voting records, etc., in a digestible, usable format. I’ve seen a couple of sites (I’ll post links later) that do this. The sheer volume of data, and the troubles with collecting data about localities (where the most immediate and lasting good can be done, I suppose), make this an interesting challenge. But with the likes of everyblock.com, I don’t think it’s a problem that will stay unsurmounted for long. Short of embracing your community, which, in an age when we’re working longer hours and doing more things on the run, is north of “challenging,” exploing connective technologies might be the best way forward.

At least, that’s what the technopropagandists tell me.

Posted by Daniel on 15 May 2008 @ 1pm

It’s interesting that this topic was on your mind. There is an obvious disconnect with people the political system. How everything is packaged to look good from the outside but on the inside it is constructing the divide between our power as citizens and the actual choices made on our behalf. Initially it frustrated me because I’m a control freak and want to feel like I have choice and influence. More importantly is how indicative the political system is of our species. Our individual influence and collective weight is gone. This is more apparent to me at times of presidential elections. All I can muster is an o’ pat on the back for the people of The US of A, as I am tired.

Posted by Danielle on 16 May 2008 @ 3pm