Brilliant on-the-street interviews - Presidential

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This sort of thing scares me! Some people have NO business voting! Interviews in Harlem

I've seen a lot of things like this, including some very detailed academic studies about the average person's knowledge level on the most basic points of government. I find it horrifying. I too think a lot of people have no business voting.

I can't watch the video but going solely by the title I will say that the Jay Leno pop-quiz style of many of these man on the street interviews don't accurately demonstrate the endemic knowledge of the average person. Many people when put on the spot without the slightest preparation or even the slightest knowledge of the subject they're going to be queried on will freeze up and not be able to answer questions they actually do know the answers to. Add to the mix a camera and someone standing over them waiting for an answer and the stress is heightened still, making it even less likely that they will be able to come up with the correct answer. A simple example of this is when someone unexpectedly asks you for your phone number, with a line behind you, while their waiting to enter it into their database and you freeze up and say while trying to laugh it off, "Uh give me a minute. I never call myself."

Quote:I too think a lot of people have no business voting. Wow. Wouldn't it be great if we DIDNT have the RIGHT to vote??? I guess we should just move back in time.I think every person who has the right and is able to vote should do so.

the fact that people make voting desisions based on gut feelings without deep knowlage is nothing new. People vote along party lines out of habit. Some may vote for Obabma just because he's black while others will vote for McCain because he's white.In our election this month, Dion was a victim of some very misleading and often completely inaccurate attack ads. I spoke to many people who had no idea what he actually stood for but they knew what his opponents were saying.We also had the lowest voter turn out in history.

I had to take a test to be certified to do my job. To make sure I had a minimum amount of knowledge.
I had to take a test to be able to drive. To make sure I was competent and able to drive.
Likewise, I wouldn't mind if there were some sort of testing required for voting. Keep idiots from voting.
(Of course, I think the voting age should be raised to 21, with exceptions made for military personnel.)
edit: I wasn't meaning to sound like I'm equating under 21 with idiots. That's not the case at all.

LOL...this is the piece I was talking about in the other thread!Honestly, some folks make me think you should have to pass a test in order to vote. But I don't agree with an age limit of 21. At 18 you're old enough to die for your country...I think you should be allowed a vote (and a beer, but that's another subject).

the democratic process is the the highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest, the smartest and the dumbest. That's life.  Originally Posted By: Thorand a beer, but that's another subject I totally agree! THe desparity between the so-called "age of majority" and the legal drinking age never made much sense to me.

I attended a few of Dion's town hall meetings. Yeah, I think that even members of his own party didn't even understand the plan.A friend of mine said that the "carbon tax" is a good idea but not during uncertain economic times. The problem is that lack of understanding that the "green shift" had huge potential to pull us out of rough times and the right time to do it was 20 years ago.

I dont understand why some canadians hold grudges against people from Quebec (the french in particular). I know its the same the other way around too.

I remember going to Gatineau for the long Canada Day weekend of 2006.. made some friends with the guys who worked at the hotel. They apparently don't celebrate it there.. they celebrate something specifically for quebec. It was weird. Good thing Ottawa was 15 mins away!

I don't think I really held a grudge against Dion so much as I do against the liberals.

Quote:Likewise, I wouldn't mind if there were some sort of testing required for voting. Keep idiots from voting. Voting isnt a Privilege.. its a right! Think we should step back in time? If we had to take a test for voting Im sure there wouldnt be a very good turnout. Thats a really bad idea (IMO).

Quote:

Some people have NO business voting!

I wanted to start off my reply to this statement with a direct quote from the U.S. Constitution stating the right to vote. After fruitless minutes of reading through The U.S. Constitution. I found no such statement; it, the constitution, does not explicitly guarantee a right to vote. It contains ''many phrases, clauses, and amendments detailing ways people cannot be denied the right to vote'': The 15th Amendment prevents discrimination of voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude; The 19th Amendment prevents discrimination of voting rights based on sex; The 24th Amendment gives you the right to vote despite not paying poll or other taxes; The 26th Amendment gives right to over 18s to vote. As a result, voting is not a right, but a privilege granted or withheld at the discretion of local and state governments. In other words, when states decide who qualifies as a voter, they may use any criteria except the aforementioned on which to base the qualifications to vote. Hmm...

I'm sorry for rambling, but I found this extremely fascinating and thought I'd share.

To the point of my reply: ''some people have no business voting''. All I can say is: you may say that they have no business, however, primarily they have no right.

Originally Posted By: OldFolksI can't watch the video but going solely by the title I will say that the Jay Leno pop-quiz style of many of these man on the street interviews don't accurately demonstrate the endemic knowledge of the average person. Many people when put on the spot without the slightest preparation or even the slightest knowledge of the subject they're going to be queried on will freeze up and not be able to answer questions they actually do know the answers to. Add to the mix a camera and someone standing over them waiting for an answer and the stress is heightened still, making it even less likely that they will be able to come up with the correct answer. A simple example of this is when someone unexpectedly asks you for your phone number, with a line behind you, while their waiting to enter it into their database and you freeze up and say while trying to laugh it off, "Uh give me a minute. I never call myself." Also, a lot of these types of things also tend to filter out things they don't want to show since these types of things give better ratings.

well, it was Howard Stern so it was purely for entertainment value

Didn't watch it since I got the summary in another thread :P

I think it should be a civic duty to be an informed voter. But everyone has the right to vote, and shouldn't take that away from anybody. Anyways didn't they do that back in the 60's to keep a certain ethnic group from voting? And also, i think that's why we have The Electoral College, to put a safeguard in the elections.

Electoral College now isn't what it used to be. The Electoral College is allowed to vote for whomever its members choose, with no requirement to go the way the voters do. I think it should be changed so that it distributes them proportionally by law, since it would get rid of swing states more and it would also still give the less populated states (which tend to be more rural) slightly more say per capita. That would prevent cities from entirely dictating what happens and prevent underdevelopment of infrastructure like happens in Canada.

Perhaps some of these folks in the interview pay attention to some of the same guys Obama does/did. Obama's friends