How To Be An Informed Voter

If you are like me, you are overwhelmed when you vote and don't know how to vote for local and state offices. Click on this link for a video presenting 3 reliable sources (you will find the links within the video narrative under the video itself) to help you become a more informed voter regarding the important local and state races.

Why Can't The Majority Accept Expert Opinion?

Fact: Biden is ranked 14th in scholars' presidential rankings; Trump is last (link)

Fact: Trump is ahead in most of the latest polls (link)

Fact: Republican and MAGA voters vote against themselves, especially in the south (link)

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Thus, there is a need for universal education in Critical Thinking! (link)

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The Young Are Not All Progressive

"Author and journalist Kyle Spencer knows - she wrote the book on it. It's called Raising Them Right, soon to be out in paperback. She spent extensive time with Charlie Kirk, among others, and saw how he built an effective right wing youth movement. How did he do it? Who is funding it? Do these people really believe what they say? She answers those questions and more."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting how the conservatives are radicalizing college students in the USA:

Believe It Or Not, The Right Has An Effective Youth Movement

Women's Vote In The USA: The History

"Like the momentum for the Fifteenth Amendment, the push for rights for women had taken root during the Civil War as women backed the United States armies with their money, buying bonds and paying taxes; with their loved ones, sending sons and husbands and fathers to the war front; with their labor, working in factories and fields and taking over from men in the nursing and teaching professions; and even with their lives, spying and fighting for the Union. In the aftermath of the war, as the divided nation was rebuilt, many of them expected they would have a say in how it was reconstructed.

"But to their dismay, the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly tied the right to vote to “male” citizens, inserting the word “male” into the Constitution for the first time."

Click on the link below for the history of the steps involved in allowing women to vote in the USA. Unfortunately, it is similar to other rights efforts for women. 

I think frequently about my mother and the history of women's rights in the USA. She was born before women could vote. She graduated 4th in her high school class but could not go to college. She became a widow in 1962 but could not get a credit card in her own name until 1974.

History of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution

The Value Of Reaching Out To The Other Side

In 2020, 31% of voters identified as Democrats, 25% identified as Republicans, and 41% identified as Independents. If you split the Independents down the middle, with 50% voting for either, the Democrats would always win. But that is not what happens. There are more conservatives than progressives in the Independents, thus, the voting is much closer than what would be reflected in a 50 - 50 split. Most rural voters live by progressive economic principles but tend to vote Republican. Why? Could Democrats aren't talking to the rural folks enough and making some wrong assumptions?

Click on this link for a 6-minute video to better understand that the Democrats need to do some serious leg work within the rural communities of the USA to convince that voting segment that the Democratic Party offers more to them. Seems to me that critical thinking skills need to permeate into opinions formed through indoctrination.

The Political System In The USA Sucks

"Elections are coming up in the United States, so I thought it was a good opportunity to talk about the world's best and worst voting systems. Why are US elections so weird? And how can it be fixed?"

Ironically, the USA has one of the best Constitutions in the world. Too bad it fails so badly in its application. Click on the link below for a video exposing just how badly the USA performs in being a genuinely representative democracy:

The One Where I Get Slightly Political And Lose Half My Subscribers

A Template To Get The Vote Out

Polls are interesting but if people don't vote they don't mean anything.  The Democrats need a much greater turnout than the Republicans because of Gerrymandering and the relative greater power of the rural areas. Unfortunately, the largest voting group are the Millennials but they also are the least apt to vote.  Tom Steyer, the Billionaire philantropist, has a strategy that I think may work for the 2018 mid-term election:

" - - - efforts will focus on person-to-person contact, voter registration, and a get-out-the-vote ground game. For instance, it is training teams to mobilize young voters on more than two hundred college campuses and across seven states using data-driven field strategies, digital tools, and creative tactics. As part of that effort, the group also will continue its Climate Organizing Fellowship Program, which aims to develop climate leaders eager to push for climate action and clean energy solutions through November and beyond.

"'Millennials are the biggest cohort in this election cycle,' Steyer told the Times. 'When they do engage, it can make a difference in these states. This is about turnout and letting millennials' voices be heard.'"   (https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/nextgen-climate-to-spend-25-million-on-get-out-the-vote-efforts)

Polls Don't Count, Only Voting Does

" - - - Republicans have a built-in turnout advantage on Election Day. White voters often turn out more heavily than other racial and ethnic groups, as do older voters, wealthier voters, and voters who own their own homes. All of those groups vote more heavily Republican than their counterparts: Whites more than nonwhites, older voters more than younger voters, wealthier voters more than poorer voters.

"A recent PRRI poll found that 74 percent of those 65 and older were certain to vote in November, compared with 28 percent of those under 30. That obviously disadvantages Democrats.

Only a quarter of the country identifies as Republican. There are two reasons the party keeps winning anyway.

Three Important Characteristics Politicians Should Have

"The most important aspect of democratic elections is the regular opportunity for a job performance review of our elected officials. For us to have the elected leadership that our community needs, we need to do our part – evaluate the candidates thoughtfully and actually vote.

"Primary elections are this Tuesday, and we should treat every election as a job interview for first-time candidates and a job performance review for candidates seeking re-election. One benefit of primary elections is the ability to look past party labels, which are irrelevant at this stage."

The best ways to judge our candidates

 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article210454314.html#storylink=cpy

Now, If They All Vote, - - -

It is easy to be discouraged with politics.  However, there really is something happening within society that may lead to more reasonable political thinking.

Trump Is Lying. The Issue Is Restriction Of Voting Rights By Republicans

The last several days has brought Donald Trump's rhetoric to a new low.  He has repeatedly lied about how Hillary Clinton, the Democrats and the Media are "stealing" the election.  In reality (which Trump has never had a close relationship with, that I can tell), since the year 2000, out of a BILLION votes cast in the USA, only 31 evidenced cases of voter fraud were found.  However, in the meantime, the Republicans have conducted a concerted effort to try to sway presidential elections by placing unnecessary burdens on voting.

Vote wisely.

It Doesn't Do Any Good Unless You VOTE!!!

"But while these so-called “nones” outnumber any religious denomination, they are not voting as a bloc, and may have little collective influence on the upcoming presidential election."

"Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton may be pleased to learn that these numerous nones overwhelmingly favor her over her GOP rival Donald Trump — 62-21 percent in the poll, which was conducted in late July and early August."

And, voting 3rd Party is a wasted vote.