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Originally Posted by davidthefat
Well Im not of age yet to vote (18 in 1 year and 2 months) but I have a serious question about voting. How/where do I get the real information about the proposed propositions and cadidates? All you hear on TV and on line is bottom line propaganda. Well you never really know a candidates' real motives but propositions must be easier to interprete. I personally did not like elections; there are too much "mud slinging". I do not know if it is really democracy at work in these elections, but more like "who can appeal to the public better through the media".
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The thing to do is find people with similar views and find out what they know. The ads and most campaign mailers are virtually worthless, because the candidates and proposition supporters pay to be included in them. The only thing you can learn from mailers is who has the money to pay for mailers. I learned this from reading the fine print on the mailers.
My own personal example (and this will NOT apply to everyone, of course!) is that I am a Christian and am conservative in many (but not all) of my political views. There is a man in our area named Craig Huey who does seminars and has a website, electionforum.org. He rates the candidates--even the judges--and makes recommendations on candidates and ballot propositions. He also explains his rating system, based on Christian and conservative values. His website is pretty simple, but some of his in-person seminars can get pretty detailed. For example, he explained his reservations about Meg Whitman.
If you are liberal, socialist, or some other viewpoint than that of Craig Huey, you could look at his website to figure out who you would NOT vote for. But it would be better if you found groups--PACs, interest groups, etc., who have a similar viewpoint to yours. You may also find yourself involved with a group that has a stake in the outcome of certain elections. AAA, AARP, labor unions, business associations and others sometimes publish opinions about these things. There are people who track the voting records of elected officials, and people who review judges' decisions.
I agree with Joe Ross that the California ballot pamphlet is a good resource. I always read the summary information. Usually that doesn't help me decide, so I read the legislative analysis. Often I still can't decide, so I read the arguments for and against. Beware of those, however--the people writing those are never objective, and often they twist the facts, and sometimes outright lie. But they may make a point I haven't considered. As a last resort, I will read the text. If I can't understand it, I vote NO. Sometimes the text reveals crazy stuff, like the transportation bond measure that included funding for an art museum in the Bay Area.
This last election, I was astonished to find that Dianne Feinstein was one of the two signers of the argument AGAINST Prop. 19, the marijuana initiative. I have trouble believing she is against legalization of pot, but she had an interesting argument against the ballot measure. I encouraged everyone to read her argument--not just because I was so amazed, but also as a ploy to get people to actually READ the ballot pamphlet!
My point is, don't give up. There are sources of information out there. You will be able to find them, if you look. And remember that everyone in the political process is human, which means you will find imperfections and absurdities just about everywhere.