Friday, January 18, 2008

How I'm Doing: Political Awareness



Well, it turns out I stink at being politically aware. Besides listening to one talk show on my way home from work on Wednesdays, I don't try too hard to listen to political stuff. However, today I found some links to some information, and I'll be putting them up here for you, as well. I took my Candidate Matchmaker test (which I've added to the sidebar), and Mike Huckabee came out on top. Then John McCain, then Duncan Hunter, whoever that is. Mike Huckabee feels a little "going with the gospel crowd," but I'm not going to NOT vote for him just because I don't want to be "one of those people." If, at the end of the day, he's more in line with my views than anyone else, then he gets my vote.

I was surprised that I had more in common with three democrats (including John Edwards and Barack Obama) than I did with Ron Paul. Very interesting. I don't know much about Ron Paul, but I kinda thought I'd like him. I better do some more research!
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8 comments:

  1. KarenD1/18/2008 2:12 PM

    That bobble head makes Huckabee look like Kevin Spacey to me.

    Well, of course, you know John is a Ron Paul fan. You should see some of the looks he gets when he says it. :-)

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  2. Lydia1/18/2008 2:20 PM

    Well, in looking at his stances on things (using the Candidate Tracker I put in the sidebar), I don't disagree with Ron Paul on many things, so I'm not sure how he made it so low on my list. Right now, my biggest thing against him is that he's 72! He needs to be retired and enjoying life at home.

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  3. Anonymous1/18/2008 5:04 PM

    Good for you for looking into the candidates. It is vitally important that people consider policies rather than platitudes when deciding who to vote for. I would recommend looking at the views of candidates that you do not agree with and make sure you understand why you disagree with them. Of course, you should also know why you support your candidate--and it better be for a better reason than "he looks the most presidential," or "she would be nurturing because she's a woman" (yes I have heard that one). By the same token, don't disqualify a candidate because of something equally as superficial (like age!). Vote with your beliefs of who will make the best president. In spite of what some people say, no vote is wasted (even third party votes).

    Figure out what issues are important to you, and then figure out why those issues are important. For example, if you are a fan of building a wall on the US-Mexico border, why? Is it because you think that is the best way to control immigration and similar measures have had success in the past, or is it because building a wall is a security blanket that you can look at and say, "At least we're doing something."?

    I'm very glad you're looking into the candidates. More people should.

    (And then once you decide on a candidate, I'll tell you why mine is better! :-) )

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  4. Lydia1/18/2008 5:12 PM

    @John: Thanks for the comment! I agree age is a pretty superficial thing, so I guess I'll scratch that off my list of "cons." :) That's a good suggestion to study the candidates I don't agree with. The Candidate Tracker seemed very helpful, and I think it will be continually updated, so I would recommend it!

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  5. Tricia Welch1/18/2008 6:30 PM

    I am a huge fan of Ron Paul so I just had to chime in! I don't like to pressure others to talk about politics (see my latest blog post), but it sounds like you're open to learning. Some things to know about Ron Paul: he is a constitutionalist. Got a question about what he believes? Look at the constitution and you'll find the answer. He wants less government involvement. ie: no national id card. He wants to bring the troops home so that there is more money to spend on the American people. I have never heard a candidate with a more sound economic policy. He never changes what he believes in to fit certain states or groups of people. He says the same message time and time again...which is refreshing. Hope this helps! Check him out at www.ronpaul2008.com/issues.

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  6. T1/18/2008 6:34 PM

    I did one of those candidate matchmaker things too. The guy who came in first, I don't even remember his name, and he dropped out of the race months ago. Too bad! John McCain was second I think, and the third person has dropped out too I think. But the questions were hard for me to answer because I don't really know where I stand on some things. I think it is more of a decision for people this year than it usually is.

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  7. Anonymous1/18/2008 8:31 PM

    It seems to me that the problem with most of the candidate quizzes is that they seem to bias based on the interpretation of the candidates views by the group creating the quiz. For example, I took one (by ABC, I think) that rated me most similar to Guliani (one of my least favorite candidates) because I gave a higher priority to a tax question. Guliani's position, according to the quiz, was "We need keep Bush's tax cuts" and "We need to scrap the whole system and start over." So it seems like whatever you answer, they will rate you as similar to him. Likewise, the survey that you have linked on your blog, Lydia, says that Ron Paul favors more federal funding for health coverage (topic 5 here), something which he does not support, even according to the sources linked on that page.

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  8. Anonymous1/20/2008 11:31 AM

    Mine was
    1. John McCain (45%)
    2. Mike Huckabee (38%)
    3. Hilary Clinton - (HECK NO)
    4. Duncan Hunter (35%)
    5. Barak Obama (35%)
    6. Fred Thompson (35%)
    7. John Edwards (33%)
    8. Dennis Kucinich (25%)
    9. Ron Paul (25%)
    10. Mitt Romney (25%)
    11. Rudy Giuliani (20%)
    12. Mike Gravel (20%)

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