Electoral Math
Reality-Based^TM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot

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Five Minutes With the Average Legislator

Winston Churchill once said the best argument against democracy was spending five minutes with the average voter. It's often a source of gallows humor that half of Bush voters think he supports the Kyoto protocol (which he explicitly doesn't), that he supports things like the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty (which he sort of doesn't), that more than ten percent of the public doesn't know who their mayor is, or who their congressman, and so on. Yet remarkably, by and large our elected officials are earnest people who want to use their elected position to accomplish something positive, who are willing to listen when you talk to them, and who by and large make politics an honorable profession. Members of the current national Republican Party's leadership excepted, of course.

So I think the best argument in favor of democracy is spending five minutes with the average legislator. It's a heartening experience worth trying some time.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 08:27 13 July 2005