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It is not because you say to your congressman that you are a one-issue voter that you really are. Elected officials keep lying about their promises, I don't see

by Iv 8y ago

It is not because you say to your congressman that you are a one-issue voter that you really are. Elected officials keep lying about their promises, I don't see why this should be a one-way street.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Elected officials keep lying about their promises, I don't see why this should be a one-way street. It's not a one way street, and never has been. Of course, neither is the disregard of what people say that isn't the supported by concrete, substantive action that it engenders.
smsm42 8y ago
Except that they are in this game for years, and probably can play it much better than you do. But by devaluing citizens input by injecting obvious deception into it, you make it harder for others to make a difference when it does genuinely matter for them. Because on the input side, there's no way to know the difference between somebody who genuinely passionately cares for the issue and somebody who strategically lies about it. And since lying is cheaper than genuinely caring, the optimal strategy would be to assume purported one-issue voter is lying. So what exactly did you achieve by that?
- Iv 8y ago
  I won't question the fact that they are very good at it and indeed, a lot of elected officials forget their promises immediately after that. And yes, voters cold-calling senators is an incredibly unreliable way to know who cares about what. I am astounded that it is still that efficient. I guess many candidates haven't figured yet that a lot of people can lie. Personally I wouldn't say "I will vote for you if you do X or Y". Given the current political climate, I would present myself as a republican voter who has doubts "and really, this net neutrality things really makes it hard for me. I don't really see why I should go vote for either side now." They wont believe someone who pretends they can switch on a single issue but their current fear is that their base won't come on election day.

by Iv 8y ago

It is not because you say to your congressman that you are a one-issue voter that you really are. Elected officials keep lying about their promises, I don't see why this should be a one-way street.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Elected officials keep lying about their promises, I don't see why this should be a one-way street. It's not a one way street, and never has been. Of course, neither is the disregard of what people say that isn't the supported by concrete, substantive action that it engenders.

smsm42 8y ago

Except that they are in this game for years, and probably can play it much better than you do. But by devaluing citizens input by injecting obvious deception into it, you make it harder for others to make a difference when it does genuinely matter for them. Because on the input side, there's no way to know the difference between somebody who genuinely passionately cares for the issue and somebody who strategically lies about it. And since lying is cheaper than genuinely caring, the optimal strategy would be to assume purported one-issue voter is lying. So what exactly did you achieve by that?

Iv 8y ago
I won't question the fact that they are very good at it and indeed, a lot of elected officials forget their promises immediately after that. And yes, voters cold-calling senators is an incredibly unreliable way to know who cares about what. I am astounded that it is still that efficient. I guess many candidates haven't figured yet that a lot of people can lie. Personally I wouldn't say "I will vote for you if you do X or Y". Given the current political climate, I would present myself as a republican voter who has doubts "and really, this net neutrality things really makes it hard for me. I don't really see why I should go vote for either side now." They wont believe someone who pretends they can switch on a single issue but their current fear is that their base won't come on election day.