I was toying with the idea of making this thread (and perhaps even posting about it in the War Room), but I don't want get dragged into an argument defending my position. I recognize that 99% of people will not agree, and there are men and woman who fought and died so that I could have the right to vote, so I don't have any allusions that I am going to convince people of my position.
With that being said, I don't believe in democracy, and have never voted. The latter has more to do with ineffectual politicians and a selection of poor candidates, but at my core, I just don't think everybody's opinion is of equal worth. Watching the situation surrounding COVID unfold, and seeing just how ill informed and stupid some people can be (and this refers to both the public and our decision makers), I am left troubled that a person peddling bleach as a solution to the virus, has the same say as a trained epidemiologist.
Overwhelmingly, the people I know vote for emotional or partisan reasons. While I can't say for certain, I would say the majority of voters fall into this category. Quiz people on actual policy positions, or ask them to make informed comments on their preferred parties agendas, and you will get back very little of actual value interms of insight. The same people who complain about shitty infrastructure and access, scream murder when taxes are raised. The same people who want to implement protectionist measures to keep jobs "American/Canadian", don't understand why the cost of living goes up.
I will be the first person to admit that outside of some very specific issues, I don't think I am informed enough to have a say on most issues. Yet, my vote counts just as much on issues that don't affect me, or know anything about. While I suppose the solution to his would be to try and become an informed voter, the challenge is that there is a wealth of misinformation, noise and the average person simply isn't equipped to gather, interpret and discern between credible/uncredible information. A casual glance at Twitter feeds or War Room posts demonstrate just how easy it is to desseminate disinformation and exploit emotional responses. Facts and data don't matter, as long as people can find that one supporting voice that validates their asinine opinion.
While it is not particularly PC to say this, most people are dumb/ignorant, and should not have any sort of bearing on what policies should be. I am not trying to be an intellectual elitist, I include myself in that "dumb/ignorant" category for anything that isn't rooted in my academic or vocational training. As noted above, outside of handful of issues, my opinion is worthless.
To further compound these problems, political leaders are just as dumb. I have had the opportunity to advise the last three federal ministers of the environment on issues, and literally none of them had a background in the environment. Our political systems plays musical chairs with our elected officials, rotating people in and out of "portfolios" as a way to reward or punish members of a party. Does it make sense to you to do a cabinet shuffle, and turn the environment minister into the education minister, and the finance minister into the indigenous affairs minister? (These are Canadian examples, but the same thing happens in America). The answer should be HELL NO, but for whatever reason, that is how we organize our political system, and these are the people we are entrusting to do what's right for the country.
Not everybody is made equal, and not everybody's opinion is equal. In my "ideal" world, we would appoint people based on a meritocracy - people with the skills, training and desire to serve in a particular role, will be the ones who help inform and shape policy in those areas. It boggles my mind that Ben Carson is somehow the secretary of housing, when the guy is a famed neurologist. I don't care what anyone says, that is dumb.
I felt the need to get this off of my chest, as the pandemic has really brought out the stupid in people. The never ending series of lies, misinformation, conspiracy theories, finger pointing etc. etc. has further deteriorated my already diminishing belief in elected officials and the public. Reading literally thousands of Twitter users denounce world renowned scientists, but embrace random conspiracies from a Youtube Podcaster makes me wonder whether COVID is nature's way of doing a cull on humanity.
