Thursday, August 11, 2011

Americans Elect

The Colbert Bump got me to visit Americans Elect, a site that's trying to get an idea of voter priorities so we can allegedly influence the two parties by telling them what we really care about, as well as direct people like me to candidates who agree on the issues.

I doubt it'll make much of a dent, but I figure it's better than just grumbling to myself. At least on the questions I've answered so far, I've been at or adjacent to the majority. Of course, the Colbert Bump might be biasing the results for today.

3 comments:

MWchase said...

Kind of bothered by some of the ranges of answers. For example, there's one on environmentalism that assumes that the motivation for environmentalism is purely to protect other forms of life from extinction. I see that, instead, as a simple pre-requisite for the most rational motivation: keeping our environment habitable for us.

Honestly, both sides of the environmental debate that I see are basically just trying to dodge a simple fact: no matter what, humans are the species with the greatest influence on the environment. We can choose to accept this fact, instead of clinging to either the idea that humans have a negligible environmental impact, or that by withdrawing from nature, we can just let it self-balance. That's still a course of action! It's a fundamental change from a history of profoundly affecting the balance of nature, even without high technology or industrialization.

The current environmental debate is like two people in a car speeding towards the edge of a cliff, and one of them just wants to go faster, while the other thinks we might have a chance if we just ease off on the accelerator a little, and neither of them are even thinking to touch the brakes or the wheel.

Bronze Dog said...

Might want to send them some feedback on those issues, if you haven't already. Site's still young, of course.

StarGazer said...

They do need feedback...
I think this is an amazing and awesome thing and will be giving it my full support and participation...