I was standing at the nurses station yesterday doing my work when I heard the nurses discussing who they were going to vote for on Super Tuesday. And then it happened....again. The one thing that makes me nuts about our democratic process. One of the nurses said, "I think I will vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman and it is time that a woman ran the country." Then another nurse said that she was going to vote for Barack Obama because it seemed like he was honest. I wanted to scream.
Okay. I am not just picking on the noble nursing profession. I have heard the same conversation from my colleagues. It makes me crazy when I hear people state that they are going to vote for someone because the advertising campaign for that candidate has been successful. Usually after that conversation is over, someone will ask me who I am going to vote for. And I will state that I am planning to vote for so and so because they support this or that policy and I get a blank stare. No one I know seems to have a handle on the issues and how the candidates stand on the issues. (Daily Kos readers excepted of course.)
Apparently, the corporate media apparently does not consider detailed discussion of the issues their job any longer. So I have spent some time trying to find a place where I could tell people to go to get actual facts. I presented such a site in my last article but I recently came across a much better site. I saw it on a piece at "Current TV".
Glassbooth was created by some young journalist that get as crazy as I do when people choose their leadership based on hairstyle and "gut" reaction. The site is very well done and starts with a quiz followed by further clarification of what is important to you. What I liked about this site was that it gives you quotes and links to what the candidates actually said or wrote about these issues. There is a great deal of valid info on this site.
Here is how they describe themselves:
Glassbooth is a nonprofit organization that is creating innovative ways to access political information. An informed and interested democracy is a powerful thing. As an organization acting in the public’s interest, we are very serious about our core principles:
Integrity
All information used in the Glassbooth process is of the highest accuracy and integrity. No process is perfect though. Please get involved and shoot us an email if you want to add or comment on any of our content.
Nonbias
We believe Glassbooth’s success is contingent on nonbias in our process. We have worked closely with partners and experts to insure our language is in no way misleading. Again, feel free to email us with suggestions as to how we can improve.
Nonpartisan
Glassbooth does not affiliate with any political party, political organization, or ideology...we can’t and we won’t.
Transparency
All information used by Glassbooth will be available for the public to view and scrutinize. We are not Google...we want you to know why your results are delivered the way they are.
Insight
Glassbooth is always learning and adapting to how people are using media and interacting with information. We are constantly adding new features to the site so check back often.
So now I have a site that I can send the "voting on hairstyle" people:
http://glassbooth.org/