1. Figuring out your basic assumptions:
There is no one true political party, and no one right way to do things. There are many. However, each of us have an ideal world that we'd like to live in. Perhaps you prefer little government interference. Perhaps religion is important to you. Perhaps you prefer abiding strictly by the constitution. Whatever it is, the most important thing is to figure out what your assumptions are. So here are some questions that are a good start to figuring out your basic assumptions:
What do you believe is the fundamental strength(s) of a society? (ex: freedom, self-sufficiency/lack of debt, God, families, tolerance, justice, peace, equality, etc)
What is the morality code that should be followed in this country? How much do you trust the public to make the decision for themselves to abide by the code, and how much should be legislated by the government?
Where should government never intervene? What fundamental rights should be given to the citizens?
2. Finding your candidate(s):
Note that I said candidate, not political party. While it may often be that you agree with a certain party most of the time, one of the most dangerous things to responsible voting is to stop the research process because you believe every one candidate in a certain political party is the best. One of the other dangerous things is to only focus on certain offices. For instance, this year is a presidential election year. However, that does not mean that when you go to vote you will only be voting for the president. There may be state and local positions up for election as well, and it is also crucial to know who you'd like in those offices as well. Especially since their policies will probably more directly affect you.
So how do you find this information? Well, the internet is a great place to start. If you find it difficult to find local politicians online then I'm sure there are local offices that contain information. But one important thing to note is that the higher the office, the more false information there is out there.
So let's start with where NOT to look for information. Places that are pretty conspicuous are things that have titles that evoke emotion or sound extreme. Such as, but not limited to, "Can you believe what this video shows canidate A doing?" "If moderates or independents see this it'll be over for candidate B". Another sad, but true reality is you cannot find out information about one candidate from another candidate. The National Conventions are fun and all, but they are filled with half trues and bold faced lies, and it is very difficult to figure out what's right or not. Occasionally it'll seem easier to just believe everything they say which is a very dangerous thing to the voting process.
Continuing the where-not-to-look theme, we have news stations. They are ALL biased. Even if they are biased in your favor it's still not truthful. CSPAN is boring, but at least it leaves the social commentary at home. It is probably the only political news station that could honestly be endorsed. At least, the last time I watched it, all it did was point a camera at congress. It might have changed. I don't get channels anymore.
Note that I said candidate, not political party. While it may often be that you agree with a certain party most of the time, one of the most dangerous things to responsible voting is to stop the research process because you believe every one candidate in a certain political party is the best. One of the other dangerous things is to only focus on certain offices. For instance, this year is a presidential election year. However, that does not mean that when you go to vote you will only be voting for the president. There may be state and local positions up for election as well, and it is also crucial to know who you'd like in those offices as well. Especially since their policies will probably more directly affect you.
So how do you find this information? Well, the internet is a great place to start. If you find it difficult to find local politicians online then I'm sure there are local offices that contain information. But one important thing to note is that the higher the office, the more false information there is out there.
So let's start with where NOT to look for information. Places that are pretty conspicuous are things that have titles that evoke emotion or sound extreme. Such as, but not limited to, "Can you believe what this video shows canidate A doing?" "If moderates or independents see this it'll be over for candidate B". Another sad, but true reality is you cannot find out information about one candidate from another candidate. The National Conventions are fun and all, but they are filled with half trues and bold faced lies, and it is very difficult to figure out what's right or not. Occasionally it'll seem easier to just believe everything they say which is a very dangerous thing to the voting process.
Continuing the where-not-to-look theme, we have news stations. They are ALL biased. Even if they are biased in your favor it's still not truthful. CSPAN is boring, but at least it leaves the social commentary at home. It is probably the only political news station that could honestly be endorsed. At least, the last time I watched it, all it did was point a camera at congress. It might have changed. I don't get channels anymore.
Well, now for some places to look for accurate information. The best place to start is with the candidates official pages. I have yet to see one that does not include an almost fully disclosed idea of what their policies are. So read that first. Another great source is debates. Debates are good because the candidates are standing right there to refute the bold faced lies that others tell about them. Though it is still probably good to do a little research to figure out the extent of truthfulness of statements that were important to you.
Other than that, do a lot of research. Though while you do research, don't let anyone decide for you if something is acceptable or not. An example of this is recent unemployment rates. Democrats say that during Obama's term unemployment dropped from 10% to 8%. Republicans on the other hand say that for the past 43 months unemployment has been above 8%. So, first, go look it up to see if the numbers are correct. Then look to see if the fluctuation is normal. Figure out the typical highs and lows of our country, and decide for yourself if 8% is unacceptable. Now, if you can't find a site that you trust enough, then that fact does not become part of why you are voting for anyone. If you aren't 100% sure, then it's dismissed. End of story.
Also note that facts and figures can be tweaked. For instance, Michael and I were recently researching the Florida statistics on drug testing for welfare. We were surprised when Florida pages had a lot higher numbers of those turned down for "drug related reasons" than, say, the New York Times and other newspapers had reported. So we looked at the actual numbers. It turned out that the Florida site was inflating numbers by claiming that people who didn't take the drug test were turned down for "drug related reasons". Always look at the numbers yourself, don't let anyone you don't trust completely interpret it for you.
Once you feel like you have enough information on each candidate then you can decide who your candidate should be.
3. Being a respectful citizen:
This one is hard for everyone. I have difficulty all the time because sometimes my beliefs become so ingrained in me that I can't even figure out why anyone else would think differently. For example, I care a lot about helping the less fortunate, and in my experience, I can't trust the public to do it without interference. Some times I forget that people who don't agree aren't heartless. Maybe they trust people more than I do. Maybe they don't fully understand the lives and behavior of the lower class. It could be for any reason, but that doesn't give me the right to label them as anything other than a human. We all come from different backgrounds and have different ideal worlds we'd like to live in, and we should be respectful of that.
What is and isn't respectful? Well for one, name-calling is not respectful: redneck, evil, communist, bigot, intolerant, etc. All of these are completely inappropriate and never did anyone any good. You will never convince someone you are right by calling them names.
Another thing that I think we sometimes forget is that spreading lies is gossip and whether you know the person or not is very disrespectful. Maybe you don't think you're an offender. Well, did you ever share a meme on facebook that wasn't completely truthful? Such as, "you didn't build that" or on the other side "I'm not concerned about the very poor." Those statements have been clarified a hundred times, so if you are knowingly sharing false information (even half-truths) about someone then you are being disrespectful. Whether you know them or not, they still deserve respect.
Also, remember that there is no evil form of government. Government is a thing and therefore can't have morality. The people running the government can, and so they can make the government evil. But just because your ideal world doesn't include socialism or communism, that doesn't make them inherently evil. It just means you prefer a different form of government. This implies that those who value those kinds of governments also aren't inherently evil. They just have a different preference. And we all have to learn to respect those preferences.
And that's about it. And don't forget, there are actually more than two presidential candidates, so don't forget to research everyone who is on the ballot in your state. Happy voting!
What is and isn't respectful? Well for one, name-calling is not respectful: redneck, evil, communist, bigot, intolerant, etc. All of these are completely inappropriate and never did anyone any good. You will never convince someone you are right by calling them names.
Another thing that I think we sometimes forget is that spreading lies is gossip and whether you know the person or not is very disrespectful. Maybe you don't think you're an offender. Well, did you ever share a meme on facebook that wasn't completely truthful? Such as, "you didn't build that" or on the other side "I'm not concerned about the very poor." Those statements have been clarified a hundred times, so if you are knowingly sharing false information (even half-truths) about someone then you are being disrespectful. Whether you know them or not, they still deserve respect.
Also, remember that there is no evil form of government. Government is a thing and therefore can't have morality. The people running the government can, and so they can make the government evil. But just because your ideal world doesn't include socialism or communism, that doesn't make them inherently evil. It just means you prefer a different form of government. This implies that those who value those kinds of governments also aren't inherently evil. They just have a different preference. And we all have to learn to respect those preferences.
And that's about it. And don't forget, there are actually more than two presidential candidates, so don't forget to research everyone who is on the ballot in your state. Happy voting!
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