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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35532 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022

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It seems pretty optimal to me. The cost of voting in one primary over another is pretty low. The benefit is, too, but that’s true for basically all political participation. I could spend actual time and money trying to herd the Democrats and see roughly as much effect.

As a bonus, I don’t inherently disagree with Republicans! In the general, I voted for a couple who were able to make sober, reasonably technocratic pitches. I’m not interested in supporting the populist wing. Is there really a difference between expressing that preference in the primary vs. in a non-competitive general?

I’m assuming, in Texas, that you voted for Hegar but not the Republican candidates to be commissioners of whatever description (who were usually far to the right of the party as a whole), but I’m curious- who running as a republican was a more technocratic governor candidate than Abbott(I mean arguably Beto was less technocratic too, it was just a different kind of populism)?

Broadly correct on commissioners. In the general election, I leaned Dem on those unless the Libertarian seemed competent, in which case I did my part to get him to 5%. Unfortunately, but perhaps to be expected, lots of the L candidates don’t bother with much of a site/statement. Most of my R votes went to county or judicial positions where the Republican was usually more experienced.

You’re correct that I didn’t have a more technocratic/competent option than Abbott. I chose not to vote for him anyway because I really disapprove of his theatrics. Not sure if I abstained from this one or voted for...I think Belew was the most centrist?

The cost of voting in one primary over another is pretty low.

How much time do you spend researching candidates, their positions, background and their pros and cons? That is, what is the minimum amount of effort it really takes to be an 'informed voter' in this scenario?

What could you maybe do with that time instead?

Hm. I’d do the same basic research for either party, so I guess you’re now comparing to “instead of voting at all.” Video games, probably.

If you were to suggest an “optimal choice for influencing outcomes,” what would it be? Bonus points if it can be achieved in only a couple hours a year.

If you are a person of substantial means, probably giving money to a candidate who is in a tight race and where a few hundred or few thousand votes might actually tip things. If you have a PAC you find trustworthy then maybe just hand them the money. I'm skeptical of political donations as a class, however.

If you are someone with a decent amount of clout in a given community, then speaking to people who respect your opinion and might alter their voting pattern accordingly could work. This could lead to your input causing a shift in a few dozen votes (or if you've got REAL substantial reach, a few hundred!) which might have some impact on outcomes.

If you are an averageish joe with no particular wealth or clout in your community, you should probably just focus on your local races, maybe your state level races. And if applicable you should maybe focus on saving up enough wealth to either insulate yourself from the consequences of said elections or allow you to pick up and move somewhere else if the outcome is disfavorable enough (like, for instance, the apparent hundreds of thousands of people leaving California and New York). Getting too involved in political processes above the local level is a good way to set useful money and effort that could have gone to productive uses on fire/enrich political actors.

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