Well since I went so long without posting during the last month I think I'm going to try and make up for that by doing a few a week. Well, at least until I start traveling then it might go back down.
Ok, so for today, I want to talk about how a particular person would get ahead in politics and government and yet, to many seem foolish, unfocused, idiotic or completely insane. The answer to this really isn't all that complicated and isn't all that surprising either. Mostly because it's a topic that has received significant study in the academic world and serious air time in the news world.
I'll give you the top three reasons and a few others that I might toss out as to why people vote the way they do. As I've said before, there have been many studies, but don't worry, most of them don't agree, so this is more my take on what I've read than a complete and edited study by people holding masters and PhD's. That being said, let's begin:
First major reason and probably the largest one there is, party identification. If someone says they are a republican, that's pretty much how they are going to vote, even if they know absolutely nothing about the candidates they are voting for. There are some exceptions to this one, as there will always be exceptions, but if you're a democrat running in a republican area, well kudos to you if you win, cause it ain't going to be easy.
Second major reason, how deep are the candidate's pockets? Not just that, but how big is the state's dem or rep party, because all those yard signs and buttons and flyers and t.v. ads and radio ads and everything else, those actually do some good, but they are pricey. Though, less I think with the presidential election, but no body is going to skimp on that election, not now and not ever... Again, this can have major implications for a conservative running in a liberal state where fewer people give money to state or local republican party or vice verse.
Third reason is pretty much connections, who do you know, do they owe you one? Do they like you, do they like someone that is related to you? One of the easiest ways to get yourself elected is to be related to someone who has been in office, look at the Clinton family, the Bush family, the Kennedy's, lots of positions and lower end gigs go to family. It is supremely easy to get a person of wealth, related to a well known politician elected in a state that has a huge one way majority, this most certainly isn't always the case, as this is well behind the other two reasons already given.
There is always race, this one doesn't so much apply to the white folk, because being a majority means it is near impossible for you to have a racial voting block, this has more to do with Americans who have black, Asian and south/central American heritage. As shown hugely in this election the black population voted overwhelmingly as a block for Obama, and if I remember right, McCain failed to pull the Hispanic block to counter that (Not that McCain is Hispanic). There have been some studies about Asian voting blocks, but this group is more fragmented, given the bad history between several of the larger Asian countries.
Other, much smaller reason can be religion (non-Christian or fringe Christian ones and you'll have trouble) age (where are all the 26-30 year olds in government???) oh, and actual policy, that does come into play when you are running against people in your own party,but some-what less when running against the other party.
Ah, American politics at it's finest...
0 comments:
Post a Comment