Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Today I had a discussion with a couple of co-workers regarding the upcoming election.
I’ve come to the conclusion that voting for a candidate is not really about picking who you think is best for the job, it’s about first looking at who has a chance of winning the election, and then picking the lesser (or least, possibly) of the two (or more) evils.
This happened to me back in 2008. I did not want Norm Coleman to be reelected as Senator, but I wasn’t crazy about Al Franken, either. Independent candidate Dean Barkley was a distant third. One of my co-workers voted for Barkley, arguing that he was the best person for the job, and that everyone should vote how their conscience tells them to vote.
I can see that rationale, but I responded that the 2008 Senatorial election was so close, I felt it was more important to give my vote to Franken, rather than select the person I thought was better (Barkley), thereby essentially giving a vote to Coleman.
Make sense?
On a larger scale, this happened in 2000, too. Ralph Nader garnered 2.74% of the popular vote. I think it’s a safe assumption that, had they been forced to vote for a candidate that actually had a chance of winning, most Nader supporters would have picked Al Gore over George Bush. In Florida – the very crucial state in the electoral vote that year, over 97,000 people voted for Nader. Had only 10% of them voted for Gore instead, he would have won the Presidency. In short, a vote for Nader (in some states) was a vote for Bush. (Though this website claims otherwise.)
Perhaps it’s not such a big deal if the better candidate has a wide margin. For example, if a poll reveals that 75% of likely voters will pick candidate A, and only 20% prefer candidate B, then maybe you’re fine listening to your conscience and picking the best candidate, candidate C, who happens to have only a 2% share. Regardless of whether you think A or B would be better, your vote isn’t likely to change anything.
I’d be interested to hear what other people prefer: Do you pick the better of two candidates, because that person maight actually win, or do you pick the person you think is the best (wo)man for the job, even though they have no chance?
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Today I left work early so that I could join my family on a visit to the Minnesota Science Museum. Owen really wanted to see the mummy on display there, and I wanted to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Scrolls are only on exhibition until mid-October, so time was winding down. Also, I had a coupon for one free adult admission that expired in a few weeks.
Well, Owen got to see his mummy. The curator answered a few questions we had and, later, we even watched a mini-play reenacting a little bit of ancient Egypt.
But I didn’t see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Shortly before leaving to go to the museum, I looked up online to see if there was anywhere to park near the museum that wouldn’t subsequently mug my wallet. While searching, I realized there was a separate set of pricings for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. Jennifer had mentioned before that there was a separate fee, but I didn’t realize just how exorbitant.
Let’s break it down:
Admission to museum + Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit for me: $28
Admission to museum + Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit for Jennifer: $28
Admission to museum + Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit for Owen: $22
…That’s $78 just to walk in the door. This, mind you, does not include admission to their omnitheater, nor does it cover parking. 78 bucks! Holy crap! How can I justify spending $22 on my five-year old son who doesn’t even know what these Scrolls are and who will find it very boring. And the Scrolls exhibit includes a 45-minute presentation…which sounds pretty much impossible to sit through when there’s a 9-week old baby with us. (She’s free, by the way.)
But wait, you ask, didn’t you have a coupon? Yes…but it’s not valid for “special” exhibits. And, you ask further, couldn’t you use your student discount? Yes…if it was after 5:00 on a Thursday, which it was not.
Just to compare, here’s what we did pay:
Admission to museum for me: $11
Admission to museum for Jennifer: $0
Admission to museum for Owen: $6.50 (he got in for $2 off due to my I-work-for-an-awesome-company discount)
That’s a total of $17.50. It still hurts, but at least it won’t keep me up at night.
As we left, the Science Museum’s parking ramp attendant mugged my wallet for $9.
A co-worker of mine went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. She said it was a waste of her money. Old paper in a dark room is how she described it. Now you have more money to spend on beer.
Thanks for making me feel better about missing them, Mike. Part of me was thinking the same thing: “These are JUST pieces of paper…why the steep price?”
Now I’m off to go buy beer.