This video helps illustrate why Obama is so popular. To quote Ezra Klein, it is "acoustic, hopeful, melodic, gentle." It is a message full of optimism and empowerment. If I were a Democrat, Obama is likely who I would be voting for:
This video helps illustrate why Obama is so popular. To quote Ezra Klein, it is "acoustic, hopeful, melodic, gentle." It is a message full of optimism and empowerment. If I were a Democrat, Obama is likely who I would be voting for:
4 comments:
The more I study Public Choice, the more convinced I am that voting is useless
I understand your sentiment, Ali, but think you may be taking away the wrong lesson. I don't think voting is useless. It has significant positive externalities when exercised in large numbers. Economically speaking, perhaps the optimal strategy is to free-ride, but I think that misses a large human side of the equation. I was a Boy Scout long before I became an economist and do believe there is value in being a contributing citizen to the society you belong to. I get utility from this and believe it helps set positive examples to others, reinforcing this behavior. I think many of the processes of democracy (such as voting, rallying, making speeches, etc.) serves to help preserve social order, promote peace within a society, and can be a vehicle for positive social change. It’s something I think is often under-appreciated by many economic models and economists.
We’ve talked before about how different societies seem to get their “pumps primed” in either positive or negative directions that affect respect for the rule of law, functioning of institutions, etc. Part of this depends on how you expect other actors around you to behave. Part of the reason democracy works to help maintain social order is because people believe it does. I think there is a strong tacit knowledge contained in the social stigmatization of non-voters. Don’t get so caught up in the technical analysis that you become cynical and miss out on part of the larger human dimension that is getting played out in election processes.
See my recent post on The Virtues of Democracy for more on this.
If you’re doubtful about the meaningfulness of voting and/or democracy, ask yourself if you’d rather live in a region of the world with or without democracy. Democracies will win my vote (no pun intended) every time. They aren’t perfect, but they are better.
P.S. -- I just put these comments into a post of their own.
Too bad Obama is so inexperienced and so extreme. It sorta makes me sad since I do think he has a lot of charisma and he is inspirational. He's a likeable guy. But he isn't presidential material.
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