MICHIGAN: Why did we vote the way we did?

Reading the mid-term election results; I am amazed at all the reasons promoted in the media about why people voted the way they did which in many cases, defied all logic.

The way U.S. elections turn out is maybe because our elections are all about “hype” even if the hype is false and never strictly about “facts” because voters vote with “emotion” and not logic.

The newspapers try to temper the hype with “fact checking” but I don’t believe voters actually pay attention to any of that.

Voters do not even pay attention to who and what the newspapers “endorse” which in the past may have been based on the newspaper owner’s ideology but now, I believe, comes from a thorough investigation and analysis of the facts.

Both newspapers endorsed SNYDER for governor of Michigan and yet the Democratic opponent came close to winning even though Snyder has done such a terrific job in bringing Michigan back from the edge of disaster.

Both newspapers endorsed the little known opponent of our Attorney General mainly because Bill Schuette was and is a right wing nut that follows his own conservative agenda and is basically positioning himself to run for governor in four years and yet he won by a landslide based on bullshit hype.

Another irrational win is the one for a judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. Richard Bernstein a 40 year-old lawyer with absolutely no judicial experience but with a long history of public exposure as a member of an “ambulance chasing” family was elected in a landslide mainly because he is blind, a known personage through many TV ad appearances and he is “for the little guy” according to his ad campaign.

On the surface, Bernstein, because his lack of experience, is not qualified for the highest court in the state, cannot read the necessary paperwork that comes with the job but has to have it all translated into Braille and is biased against corporations and especially insurance companies who he has fought against as an ambulance chaser and yet he is elected. 

Our political system has obviously stood the test of time but lately, due to the technological revolution in communications, I feel is in danger of becoming a system governed exclusively by those with money and the technical know-how of how to dupe the voters into voting their way.

I don’t think the voting public is going to get any smarter or better informed in the near future but actually the opposite is probably true.

How does this bode for our future elections? Well we have the presidential elections coming up in 2016 and the campaigning has already started…should be interesting.