Sunday, November 5, 2006

Voting Against, or Voting For?


Quote of the day:
“I’m impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.”
--Klatu, from "The Day The Earth Stood Still," written by Edmund H. North

Quote of the day no. 2:
“I think it’s because we love our jobs, and they hate theirs.”
--U.S. Equity Strategist Byron Wien, when asked why his stock-picking performance was consistently so much better than his colleagues, most of whom were 20 years younger.

Headline of the day:
“The center may get its say.”
--Today’s "Los Angeles Times," in a front-page story talking about Tuesday’s elections

Definition of the day:
“Ideology: a system of ideas and ideals, esp. one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.”
--New Oxford American Dictionary

This morning I heard this Tuesday’s election called “the dirtiest in recent memory.” That comment is evidence of a very short memory. I can’t remember an election that was not dirty. Negative, nasty campaigns work, because we are much more likely to respond against a candidate or issue than for one. It is easier to motivate us negatively than positively.

This election is in large part a referendum on the direction of our government, and there is a lot of dissatisfaction about that right now. It remains to be seen if the source of that dissatisfaction is the ideology that has become our nation’s foreign and domestic policy, or if it is something more specific.

If the dissatisfaction is with the ideology, it is unclear what ideology we want to see replace it. I’m not sure that many of us know what we might be voting FOR, as opposed to voting against.

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