[Vision2020] polarizing and the two-party system

[Paul Rumelhart]

Ted,

Perhaps it's the case that we're not yet as internet-savvy as a group as 
we think we are.  I know I use the internet more and more for checking 
facts and learning about new things, and I've been on the internet since 
at least 1989.  So my hope is that people are simply new at this and 
will make it a part of their lives more and more.  But as I say, it's a 
hope - I have no idea how it will actually turn out.

Also, when I was talking about the cost of voting, I meant the cost to 
the voter at the time of voting (which is free).  I was just trying to 
make the point that although Candidate A hasn't spent one dime on 
advertising or exposure and Candidate B has spent billions, it makes no 
difference at all if the voter somehow found out about Candidate A in 
some other fashion - they can still vote for them.  All of Candidate B's 
money would have been wasted, which suits me fine.  I'm hoping that the 
internet will be the place that makes this possible.  Grassroots 
politics has never been easier.

Paul

Ted Moffett wrote:

> Paul wrote:
>
>  
>
>      With the
>     Internet tearing down what would have seemed to be rock-solid
>     institutions, the landscape will probably be a whole lot different
>     in a
>     few elections from now. 
>
>  
> This seems logical, yet certain facts contradict this hope. 
>  
> I approached a very committed local anti-Iraq invasion activist 
> recently asking how they might explain the US public and US Congress 
> pathetically buying into the yellow cake uranium from Niger, aluminum 
> tube centrifuge nuclear fuel processing, remote controlled air 
> plane drone dispersing bio or chemical weapons, etc. fabricated WMD 
> "mushroom cloud over America" scare tactics, sheepishly accepted as it 
> was insisted Iraq presented an immanent threat of attack against the 
> USA via WMDs, in the age of.....INSTANT INTERNET FACT CHECKING OF 
> GOVERNMENT 
> PROPAGANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
>
>  
> I abandoned using caps in Vision2020 posts long ago, but I could not 
> resist.
>  
> The conclusion?  The Internet made no substantive difference, for 
> reasons that were hard to decipher, though anyone with a limited 
> effort via the Internet could have determined that Bush, et. al. were 
> spinning better than Lance Armstrong...
>  
> Paul also wrote:
>
>  
>
>     It's my guess, and my hope, that the money will matter less and
>     less in
>     this process as time goes on.  It doesn't cost anything to vote,
>     regardless of how much money your candidate has spent.
>
>  
> Actually, it costs a lot to vote.  Taxpayers pay for voting.  And for 
> easily accessible, fair, well monitored and maintained voting systems, 
> it will cost far more than we are now spending.
>  
> Often voting systems in the USA are so ill prepared, underfunded and 
> understaffed that there are lines around the block on a Tuesday 
> afternoon, frustrating voters into abandoning their efforts. 
>  
> Why don't we vote on Saturday, or have a national holiday, for the 
> most important act in the functioning of democracy?  We have a 
> national holiday to eat turkey!  What is wrong with this picture?  Why 
> vote on a working day?  Does this not discourage participation?
>  
> Voting machines are sometimes in poor condition or malfunctioning, or 
> susceptible to tampering, as it seems clear applies also to the new 
> computer voting machines.  Ensuring voting machines are reliable and 
> not subject to tampering costs money, both for the machines and the 
> monitoring.
>  
> I won't even start with Ohio in 2004...
>  
> There are numerous problems with US voting systems that require more 
> funding to address.
>  
> Even a libertarian should be able to accept the essential need for 
> full government funding of well monitored, non-partisan, 
> easily accessable and well constructed voting systems everywhere in 
> the USA. 
>  
> Ted Moffett
>  
>  
>

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