Purposeful Ignorance

I keep hearing about people who are not interested in politics. That's fair enough. If someone has no interest in August, I can understand that as it's been a disillusioning time to pay attention; but if that same someone still isn't interested in October, I hope they don't vote.

Nobody should vote for either candidate, none of the above, or one of the third party candidates unless they truly know for what each candidate stands. Not voting is bad. Voting in ignorance, based on a soundbite in late October, that finally caught a spark of interest, is worse.

Here is a thoughtful article on John McCain by Frank Rich. It is full of links to check whether he is exaggerating or telling the truth: The Candidate we still don't know. Tip: it's not Barack Obama.

Jack Cafferty wrote what I am thinking: Is McCain another George W. Bush? The answer is yes; and if you aren't scared at that thought, you have not been paying attention.

Then there is this on Russia and what the Bush people are doing. Amazing to me that there has been so much talk about a few (yes, they were just a few and still are in comparison to other potential dangers) Muslim outlaws being responsible for starting WWIII, which gave the Bush administration an excuse for taking away American rights; and yet here we have trouble igniting in the region that began other world wars where there is Russia, who actually has the power to start WWIII, talking about sending missiles to Cuba, arming Venezuela, occupying part of Georgia for oil power. To find out what is going on takes some work. If you haven't already been studying it, here is a start: Russia is not Jamaica.

Americans are being bamboozled into thinking they need a guy who isn't particularly smart. Actually, that's who the behind-the-scene power brokers need. What the American people need is an advocate for sensible governance, with good judgment, and whether that benefits us individually or economically at the moment, it will benefit us all in the long run.

There is a new, anti-Obama, swiftboater book out which supposedly rushed to the top of the best seller list. It's full of footnotes (to questionable sources) to prove it's serious journalism. It is touted by its publisher, Mary Matalin (Cheney hack), by Sean Hannity, and Fox news. What more could you need to know? Maybe that these best sellers are generated by right wing organizations and to assure they will be at the top of the list they buy them by the truckload, hoping to fool the American people, which seems all too easy in a population with a 7-second soundbite attention span. It's worked before. Just suggest higher taxes to avoid borrowing from China and the right wingers come unglued. Where is that ballot to vote for another Bush 4 years!

This is a complex world, and things aren't going to get easier for a long time to come-- if ever again. Whatever advantage the United States had, it has at least temporarily blown fighting a war in Iraq and ignoring the coming storms. However someone chooses to vote, they should make sure they read both sides and are truly informed. The country doesn't need the vote of those who choose to be ignorant. It's not fun to be informed, but it is responsible.

Then again maybe purposeful ignorance in their candidate is exactly what many voters do want. Some think McCain knows what he needs to know. Since he's a senator from Arizona, wouldn't this be under the category of should know: McCain campaign clarifies his Colorado water grab statement. I am not sure what McCain has been doing in all his years as a senator, but maybe it's been more posturing than learning on anything.

Fran from Sacred Ordinary (linked alongside here), in a comment here, mentioned this site, Brasscheck TV. She thought I would have known about it. I didn't, but it's a good one to find videos on many topics. Compilations of candidates own words probably come closest to telling us who these people are.

Do NOT count on the media, any of them, to tell the truth. I don't know what's up with them, but we don't have a media we can trust with a very few exceptions. They either have a hidden agenda or are being driven by forces they don't even recognize. Real journalists are not at the head of most of those programs. The pundits who are, as with McCain (no wonder they like him so much), do better at posturing than research.