Elections Matter

 

Trust Me 

Trust in me, baby, give me time, gimme time, um gimme time.
I heard somebody say, oh, "The older the grape,
Sweeter the wine, sweeter the wine." 

When you elect someone to represent you, you are placing your trust in them. 

The United States is a republic (and tell Ben Franklin, we are planning to keep it).  Elections are to select those individuals who will represent you in the actions required by the People of that republic.  I will not try to ague what your position should be when electing those individuals,  but I will remind you that those who seeking election may be lying to you when they are stating their own positions. I have suggested that individuals can be characterized by three attributes: Individual vs. Team; Nature vs. Nurture, and Fact vs. Fiction.  

The first attribute is whether User Optimal or System (i.e. Group) Optimal decisions will be chosen.  If a person prefers User Optimization, you should elected someone whose System Optimal preferences are close to your User Optimal preferences.  Selecting someone who has User Optimal preferences means that your representative might seek to advance his own interest rather than your interest.  They may lie that this is their System Optimal position in order for you to elect them. 

The Nature vs Nurture attribute has to do with who you consider to be in the group, excluded because of their nature, or included if they are nurtured to change their nature.  A person may state that they are excluding the same individuals from the group that you are excluding, but they may be lying about who they are really excluding ( for example, they may be excluding you from their group). 

The Fact vs. Fiction attribute has to do with your preference for facts.  Some people may believe in astrology, the earth is flat, WWE wrestling is real, etc.  A person seeking your vote may pretend to accept your beliefs when they really believe those beliefs are folly. 

Political parties used to vet candidates for you.  Primaries mean that you are vetting candidates for yourself.  A political party may be lying in their vetting.  My rule of thumb is that if someone had distinguished military service, then they have demonstrated their Team (Group) position.  For example Dwight Eisenhower, John McCain.  The heir of a wealthy family is less likely to seek to advance his own interests ( in the belief that he already has it all, he probably does not need more). For example,  the Roosevelts,  the Kennedys, etc. Storytellers are proven to, and trained in, tricking people.  My rule of thumb is to assume that actors, authors, TV personalities, etc. are lying until proven otherwise. My eldest son is a visual effects artist at Warner Brothers Media, so sorry Ryan, I guess this means I don't trust you.

If you are lied to then, regardless of your position, your representative may not be representing your position.  That hurts not only you, but those with other positions as well as you.  I need you to trust those who you elect.