I have to vote sometime before next Tuesday. No, not the dem primary. Oregon has some ballot measure that will raise taxes to avoid cuts in certain social services. Anyone have a fresh opinion on which way I should vote? I skimmed the voter's pamphlet, and it looked like the same old arguments I've heard over and over again.
These ballot measures always annoy me. It seems to me that the best way to resolve these issues is just to have someone in the government decide them. Call me naive, but that's the only fashion in which the decision can be made in a utilitarian fashion by someone knowledgable about the facts of the matter. Leaving it up to the voters is just a cop-out in favor of random decision-making. The will of the public is pretty clear when it comes to ballot measures -- they want lower taxes and more gov't services. Which I guess is interesting in this case because they can't vote both ways.
So my current decision is to vote yes. I know nothing about the situation and have no incentive to make an informed vote. So I should treat this vote as an issue poll. "In general, do you prefer funding social services, are are you against raising taxes." It sucks because I can't help but feel that the tax money will be wasted.