We are the poltical class
We all have one thing in common. We are part of the political class. Sure, we may not have prominence, but we are involved. We know our stuff. We read the news, read history, attend political events, post in forums, donate to candidates, and have bumper stickers on our cars. Arguing and debate almost never change us. Instead, they help us hone our arguments. Unless we are undecided, the more we argue the more we build up defenses for our positions. To some, we're a little strange.
Most people are not involved in the way we are. I have rural family members with Bernie's signs on their lawns and urban ones who embrace Hillary. They don't necessarily know what we know, yet they are never "low-information voters." We all know people who are hardly involved, and when asked who they support, wisely say what they think we want to hear. We know people who won't decide who to vote for until the last minute. They are not low information voters either.
I recently read about psychological studies showing that our intellectual instincts are about as accurate as our more informed decisions. For example, one study compared how students rated a professor at the end of a semester vs. how other students who only saw a 2-second clip of the professor rated him, and the results came out almost the same. There are many studies of this type. The researchers observe that this was a logical evolutionary development since those better at intuition or snap judgments would have a survival advantage. So, our seemingly less attentive and informed brethren, will make decisions that are as good as our own.
But, for us, this is an emotional affair (anyone who has a favorite team can relate). We really like being involved in this. We really like the muck. We are not posting on the Bernie or Hillary websites; we are posting where there is excitement, and on websites like this one logic and information fuel those feelings. A good political fight can be better than porn, and I doubt many of us are in this forum because we enjoy the pain. It's pleasure we're after.
We are the political class, but we are no better than any other part of the electorate.
