Sunday, January 15, 2012

Not Everyone Is Paying Attention

A college student I know is fairly aware politically, and asked an older couple (well, my age) he knows who they were supporting in the presidential race.  Since they are, by their own admission, straight Republican ticket voters, he was expecting a bit more knowledge than they showed.

"I think there's a transvestite trying to get the nomination... Ru Paul."

"I know one of them has really good hair... I think he's a Mormon."

Ilya Somin at Volokh Conspiracy frequently blogs about voter ignorance can actually be a rational act, because any individual voter has little or no impact on the final election result, and there is a significant investment of time and energy into becoming informed about what is going on. 

A cynic would suggest that it doesn't much matter: the practical difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to sailing our nation into a Titanic-nature debt iceberg is becoming increasingly tiny.  Still, I would like people to be paying a bit more attention.

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