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Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:39:42 -0400
To: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Erik Talvitie <etalviti &AElig eecs.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: candidate calculator

> According to yootles.com/candicalc we are overwhelmingly in favor of 
> Kucinich, as are (to a lesser extent) the other 150,000 people who 
> answered those same questions.  The selectsmart page (linked to at the top 
> of yootles.com/candicalc) says I like Ron Paul the best.

Here's the thing about these calculators: they seem to assume that your
ideal candidate is...you. To me, that's kind of an odd place to start
from. I mean, obviously it is true that I take the political positions I
take because I believe if the government were to take the same
positions, we'd be a better nation for it. That said, I fully recognize
that if I could perform a government transplant and replace our current
one with one that agreed with me on every issue, we'd have a big problem
on our hands. Because *most* people don't agree with me on at least some
issue that is really important to them, and everything would just grid
to a halt. So really I'd much rather have a government that most people
can get along with, but one that is walking in my direction and bringing
the nation with it. 

So when both calculators tell me Kucinich is the best candidate for me
(yootles: 58, selectsmart: 98), I can see where they're coming from. I
*like* Kucinich. I like what we has to say and I love to hear him speak.
I think he's the most legitimately liberal candidate in the field. And
that's why I would never vote for him. He can't even sell his platform
to moderate dems, let alone die-hard conservatives. If he managed to
magically get to the oval office, he'd be a complete waste of time. He'd
never get anything done because no congressperson (democrat or
republican) who wanted to get re-elected could have anything to do with
him. The same goes for Gravel and Paul too, as far as I'm concerned.
They all have great ideas for the Perfect America but they give no
indication that they will be able to put that agenda aside and work with
the contentious, confused, inertial country we've got right now. We've
just suffered through 8 years of an ideological, bull-headed president
who knows what's best for everyone, despite abysmal approval ratings. I
don't want a repeat, even if I share the ideology this time around.

So when I'm looking at candidates, I'm not looking for the one that is
the best reflection of me, I'm looking for the one that will best
champion my overall values to everyone else. I'd like the candidate who
is most likely to be able to convince the nation as a whole that a
couple of steps to the left ("and then a jump to the ri-i-i-i-ight!") in
our policies will do us all some good. Even though I don't agree with
them issue for issue (and even on some issues that are really important
to me) I actually think the Democratic front-runners are probably the
best we've got using that criterion (and maybe Biden too, if he could
just gain some traction).

Just my 2 pyoonies.

Erik