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Slogans or Plans which are better?

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  • Slogans or Plans which are better?

    Recently due to the timing of a ballot I received in the mail coming on the tail end of a very public political pissing match I decided I was going to be more critical of my candidates for city council. As such I located their websites figuring the best place to learn about a candidate is the location where they have all the information about themselves.

    I was distraught by what I learned. In all three cases every "About Me" section listed jobs previously held, but not how they affected the job they are running for, what their kids and families are doing and are like, though it has nothing to do with the job they are going for.

    When it came to the issues two of them stated their stance on only one of the issues my city is dealing with and the third didn't do that much.

    Now I emailed all three candidates and politely explained what is wrong with their sites from the point of view of a voter.

    One candidate never responded.

    The second candidate responded but told me that he is trying to show he can relate to the community and that he doesn't state his position on most issues because he feels we the voting public can read the newspaper for that.

    I informed him that I am not looking to see if he would be a fun guy to have at my neighborhood block party but rather that I am interviewing him for a job and that in a job interview he should be explaining why I should give him the job not why I should take him to Callahan's for drinks after work.

    The third candidate at the time disappointed me the most in that he didn't even have his stance established on the Transportation issue the only issue the other two at least discussed.

    In fact like the others he listed previous jobs and what he wants in vague terms without quantifying it. For example one of them stated they want, "Better schools" without saying what they think is wrong with schools or how they could make the schools better.

    He impressed me though. He emailed me back and said that I was very right and made a lot of perfectly valid points and that he had let his attempt to be brief in interviews, which makes sense, to carry over into his website.

    He plans on making changes as well as adding details of what it is his plans are.

    So in your opinion was I right in my assessment that voters want "I think the schools are suffering due to 20 year old text books that are often out of date and need to fund the purchase of new textbooks" or would voters be happier with, "We need better schools!!"

    Side Note: He now also wants to meet with me to further discuss my critique of his website.
    Jack Faire
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  • #2
    I applaud you in your proactivity regarding your upcoming election. That's a level of involvement that many people never come close to achieving (myself included, I'm sorry to admit).

    As for your title, the first is useless and the second would be premature. But there is a lot of middle ground between the two where a discussion could be started.

    It sounds like Candidate #3 actively cares about the members of the constituency to a degree not displayed by either of the other candidates.

    In a world as connected as ours has become, there's really no excuse to not craft a half-way decent stance on every issue (or at least make a statement that you are putting time in on the issue in order to form a proper stance) for the information of the voters.

    ^-.-^
    Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Andara Bledin View Post
      I applaud you in your proactivity regarding your upcoming election. That's a level of involvement that many people never come close to achieving (myself included, I'm sorry to admit).
      Normally neither would I but I was feeling feisty that day and wanted to give someone a piece of my mind.
      Jack Faire
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      • #4
        The inherent problem is that the general public does not have your attention span and perfers slogans and sound bytes. There's also this weird angle in America about wanting to elect someone you could have a beer with if Bush is any indication.

        If you're too intelligent or use words that are too big you're "Elitist".

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Gravekeeper View Post
          The inherent problem is that the general public does not have your attention span and prefers slogans and sound bytes.
          See my theory is that worse than that is that the theory of that may not be true and the reason so many people lose interest is because all they get is slogans and sound bytes so they stop paying attention and then your just left with the people that like how it is.
          Jack Faire
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          • #6
            Originally posted by jackfaire View Post
            See my theory is that worse than that is that the theory of that may not be true and the reason so many people lose interest is because all they get is slogans and sound bytes so they stop paying attention and then your just left with the people that like how it is.
            The tried and true tactic thats been proven over and over again is you take a message, boil it down to a sound byte, term or slogan, then repeat it ad nasuem until people believe its the truth.

            Its worked time and time again. You can practically see the talking points get mailed out every morning.

            You and me might be interested in hearing the entire story or seeking out alternative views on the same issue. But most people aren't. Especially in US politics where everything is polarized into a sports team mentality. People believe what they want too, and reject what they don't even if its the truth. Someone who watchs Fox News is not going to listen to jack and squat from CNN for example. Even if CNN had the whole story while Fox had its usual sound byte distillation.
            Last edited by Gravekeeper; 08-07-2011, 07:16 AM.

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            • #7
              I guess I was hoping that since so many people suddenly want more complex TV like Heroes and Lost that they would accept the complexities of politics.

              The fact everyone blames or praises only the President when things go right or wrong and ignore anything Congress does as seeming to have nothing to do with it should have told me otherwise.
              Jack Faire
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              • #8
                Originally posted by jackfaire View Post
                I guess I was hoping that since so many people suddenly want more complex TV like Heroes and Lost that they would accept the complexities of politics.
                I feel compelled to point out the last season of Heroes peaked at 6.5 million viewers. The last season of Jersey Shore peaked at 8.87. -.-

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