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Now Is No Time to Be Voting for President Based on Emotion
National Review ^ | September 15, 2015 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 09/15/2015 12:09:46 PM PDT by Steelfish

Now Is No Time to Be Voting for President Based on Emotion

by Thomas Sowell September 15, 2015 In a country with more than 300 million people, it is remarkable how obsessed the media have become with just one — Donald Trump. What is even more remarkable is that, after six years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential voters are turning to another glib egomaniac to be his successor. No doubt much of the stampede of Republican voters toward Mr. Trump is based on their disgust with the Republican establishment. The fact that the next two biggest vote-getters in the polls are also complete outsiders — Dr. Ben Carson and Ms. Carly Fiorina — reinforces the idea that this is a protest. It is easy to understand why there would be pent-up resentments among Republican voters.

But are elections held for the purpose of venting emotions? No national leader ever aroused more fervent emotions than Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s. Watch some old newsreels of German crowds delirious with joy at the sight of him. The only things at all comparable in more recent times were the ecstatic crowds that greeted Barack Obama when he burst upon the political scene in 2008. Elections, however, have far more lasting, and far more serious — or even grim — consequences than emotional venting.

The actual track record of crowd-pleasers, whether Juan Peron in Argentina, Obama in America, or Hitler in Germany, is very sobering, if not painfully depressing. The media seem to think that participation in elections is a big deal. But turnout often approaches 100 percent in countries so torn by bitter polarization that everyone is scared to death of what will happen if the other side wins.

But times and places with low voter turnout are often times and places when there are no such fears aroused by having an opposing party win. Despite many people who urge us all to vote, as a civic duty, the purpose of elections is not participation. The purpose is to select individuals for offices, including president of the United States. Whoever has that office has our lives, the lives of our loved ones and the fate of the entire nation in his or her hands.

An election is not a popularity contest, or an award for showmanship. If you want to fulfill your duty as a citizen, then you need to become an informed voter. An election is not a popularity contest, or an award for showmanship. If you want to fulfill your duty as a citizen, then you need to become an informed voter. And if you are not informed, then the most patriotic thing you can do on Election Day is stay home. Otherwise your vote, based on whims or emotions, is playing Russian roulette with the fate of this nation.

All the hoopla over Donald Trump is distracting attention from a large field of other candidates, some of whom have outstanding track records as governors, where they demonstrated courage, character, and intelligence. Others have rhetorical skills like Trump or a serious mastery of issues, unlike Trump.

Even if Trump himself does not end up as the Republican nominee for the presidency, he will have done a major disservice to both his party and the country if his grandstanding has cost us a chance to explore in depth others who may include someone far better prepared for the complex challenges of this juncture in history.

After the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran, we are entering an era when people alive at this moment may live to see a day when American cities are left in radioactive ruins. We need all the wisdom, courage and dedication in the next president — and his or her successors — to save us and our children from such a catastrophe. Rhetoric and showmanship will certainly not save us. Donald Trump is not the only obstacle to finding leaders of such character.

The ultimate danger lies in the voting public themselves. All too many signs point to an electorate including many people who are grossly uninformed or, worse yet, misinformed. The very fact that the voting age was lowered to 18 shows the triumph of the vision of elections as participatory rituals, rather than times for fateful choices.

If anything, the age might have been raised to 30, since today millions of people in their 20s have never even had the responsibility of being self-supporting, to give them some sense of reality. We can only hope that the months still remaining before the first primary elections next year will allow voters to get over their emotional responses and concentrate on the life-and-death implications of choosing the next president of the United States.

— Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: flopsweat; gopeflopsweat; jebbushfail
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To: Steelfish

Most, if not all, elections are emotions over platforms and candidates.


61 posted on 09/15/2015 12:58:34 PM PDT by Bringbackthedraft
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To: Steelfish

I will be voting based on emotion. I will be voting for the candidate that causes the most emotional distress to the GOPe.


62 posted on 09/15/2015 1:03:37 PM PDT by HandyDandy (Don't make-up stuff. It just wastes everybody's time.)
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To: HarleyLady27

There is a group of people fighting HARD to preserve the GOP Establishment right now. David Brooks, George Will, Erik Erickson, to name but three. They are becoming more desperate, angry and unmoored as Trump continues to lead the pack. It won’t ease up any time soon. But they are like bees on a honey badger; honey badger don’t care.


63 posted on 09/15/2015 1:03:42 PM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Steelfish

This “no time to be emotional” is just another LSM slogan intended to make Trump supporters feel stupid.

We support Trump because we inately believe he is the real deal. He is talking to us with the truth that we have been craving and we are responding to that in a human way. As opposed to the robotic support that the establishment would like us to continue.


64 posted on 09/15/2015 1:03:49 PM PDT by uncitizen (i hate gutless people, too.)
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To: HarleyLady27
Oh I do, unlike you...you just got caught, but that’s ok, you don’t have to like Trump, we forgive you....

How, exactly did I get "caught"? You saying that Trump has offered plans. does not make it so. And I'm not looking for forgiveness from the Queen of the Cult of Trump, or anyone else.

But Trump IS going to be our next President..

No, he's not.

65 posted on 09/15/2015 1:08:28 PM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Steelfish

Who cares what Sowell thinks, he’s black isn’t he? Go Trump!


66 posted on 09/15/2015 1:10:22 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Sanders/Cruz in 2016!)
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To: Conscience of a Conservative

OH YES HE IS!!!!!


67 posted on 09/15/2015 1:10:47 PM PDT by HarleyLady27 ("Go TRUMP 2016!!! All the Way to the White House!!!)
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To: LostPassword

Trump fails at being a credible candidate because he has no track record of being conservative. To the contrary.

Just because he started mouthing platitudes 2 months ago about fighting immigration and can handle the media is no reason to believe he will govern according to anything like a conservative viewpoint.


68 posted on 09/15/2015 1:11:14 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: Steelfish
I will do my best to vote for a logical choice in the Primary, then I will hold my nose and vote for the lesser of the two evils the Media and Party Leaderships have selected for us in November 2016.
After that, another 4-8 years of hell when we have a say only every four years while they can screw with us every day.
What's not to be emotional about?

69 posted on 09/15/2015 1:13:31 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: SoothingDave

He published his book, time to get tough, in’11. I keep asking the anti-Trumps to quote me one liberal position/idea cited therein; so far, crickets.


70 posted on 09/15/2015 1:15:19 PM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: All

Another example of the newest attack strategy. If insulting the candidate doesn’t work, try insulting the supporters.


71 posted on 09/15/2015 1:15:31 PM PDT by mmichaels1970
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To: meadsjn

See, for me, the number one objective is keeping the Democrats from a third term in the White House.

I see you have different goals.


72 posted on 09/15/2015 1:15:36 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: Talisker
I can’t believe Sowell equated Trump with Hitler and Obama.

"SIEG! HEIL! SIEG! HEIL!"

...er, um... I mean...

YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!"

...er, um... I mean...

73 posted on 09/15/2015 1:16:10 PM PDT by Rodamala
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To: Fantasywriter

He praised single payer healthcare in the first debate!

Didn’t you pay attention?

He’s no conservative. He consulted with the Clintons before deciding to run.

You all are being taken for a ride.


74 posted on 09/15/2015 1:17:13 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave

bwhahahahahahahah


75 posted on 09/15/2015 1:17:36 PM PDT by eartick (Been to the line in the sand and liked it)
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To: SoothingDave

Take two:

He published his book, Time to get Tough, in ’11. I keep asking the anti-Trumps to quote me one liberal position/idea cited therein; so far, crickets.

Incidentally, Trump’s hardline stand on the illegal invasion is part of his Get Tough plan. 2011 was more than two months ago.


76 posted on 09/15/2015 1:19:13 PM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Conscience of a Conservative
+1,000,000 to post 26.
77 posted on 09/15/2015 1:19:18 PM PDT by Rodamala
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To: SoothingDave
See, for me, the number one objective is keeping the Democrats from a third term in the White House.

I see you have different goals.

Not really. "Establishment pukes" include the establishment pukes of both parties. Communists one and all.

The establishment Democrats are the Leninist wing of the communist uni-party.

The establishment Republicans are the Trotsky wing of the communist uni-party.

78 posted on 09/15/2015 1:21:47 PM PDT by meadsjn
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To: HarleyLady27

Nope. Wrong.


79 posted on 09/15/2015 1:22:46 PM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: SoothingDave

He also said single payer cannot work in the US. But no one expects honesty from Trump haters.

If you believe everything Bill Clinton says, good for you. Otoh, his track record for honesty and accuracy isn’t all that.


80 posted on 09/15/2015 1:24:03 PM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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