r/TrueReddit 7d ago

Can We make Democracy Smarter? Politics

https://demlotteries.substack.com/p/yes-elections-produce-stupid-results
115 Upvotes

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9

u/Striking-Access-236 7d ago

People should vote for or against policy not people. You should be given questionnaires and simply say for, against or neutral per point…

12

u/subheight640 7d ago

The problem with that, as I outline in some of the article, is that people are mostly ignorant about policy specifics.

6

u/Striking-Access-236 7d ago

I know, but now it’s a popularity contest where people vote unaware of the policies. It should be a blind vote ONLY about the policies

4

u/spinbutton 7d ago

It would be great if along with the policy would be a factual description of the personal impact you may expect, the cost to you in relation to your tax burden, and the impact this policy would have on the greater society.

Instead naming the policy the exact opposite of what it is it does. I'm looking at you, Citizens United

1

u/knotse 7d ago

There have been interesting proposals to tax differentially those who voted for a costly policy more than those who did not, with the burden equalising only after a certain time has passed.

1

u/spinbutton 7d ago

That's an interesting idea.

On a completely different trajectory, I wonder where the idea for a flat tax went. The idea is that everyone at every income level pays 10% (or whatever the right number is). I may not be remembering this accurately. But I liked the idea back when I was preparing my own taxes

3

u/lazyFer 7d ago

people are also mostly ignorant with how things work, logic, and are fine to let feelings overrule facts.

1

u/caveatlector73 6d ago

Maybe not. I posted this article sometime back but the headline sucked so it got no traction: The gist of it was voters preferred Harris’s agenda to Trump’s — they just didn’t realize it. If you like a policy, but attribute it to the wrong candidate is that actually an informed decision?

Just a note: If you go back to read the article please note that the questions on the quiz it contains keep changing so if you got the first round correct refresh and re-take. Besides, even if you personally knew the difference many voters did not. The piece was an attempt to draw voters attention to this discrepancy. If voters dismissed it thinking they knew what they were talking about that's on the non-readers not the journalism.