Another Reflection....

Over the course of our class discussion about whether or not uninformed voters should, in fact, vote, i changed my mind. A lot.

At first, I thought that whether or not an uninformed voter should vote was dependent on where they got their information from. The point of a vote, to me, was to carry out a demographic as a representation of what the country needed most. Getting their information from the media was the only worry I had, because of it's power to sway people from the position they should be given their socioeconomic situation. For example: you don't want the media swaying a family on welfare for a politician who's in favor of very expensive green energy facilities in their area because that would raise their taxes or take away from social programs they need.

Now, I don't really think it matters whether or not people vote uninformed. For one, a liberal society only fulfills it's ideal if everyone votes. Which people don't do anyway in the United States. That, and the fact that politicians are generally fickle and don't always adhere to their platform. Take, for example, Obama. Maybe McCain would've ended up fulfilling the platform goals of Obama. And then to address my worry about the media having an inordinate amount of sway over voters: in a liberal society the media is free, and therefore any worries about one political party having an unfair sway over voters is needless. They do have influence, but who's to say that the democrats have convinced 5 would-be republicans, and the republicans have equally convinced 5 would-be democrats? Another point that was brought up was whether or not a liberal society should educate their citizens. I think, in an ideal liberal society this should happen, but because China owns the United States there are better places to put our money. Especially considering that we are not in a state of anarchy. Our liberal society filled with 54% of voters who actually care (uninformed or not) is plodding along quite well. So does it matter if they vote or not?

On a side note, there are liberal(ish) societies that have elections democratically. Not necessarily free (or uncorrupted), but elections nonetheless. In these societies, it definitely is better that people vote--uninformed or not. At least they should be informed enough to know the non-corrupt candidate and vote for them.