- Joined
- Jun 11, 2009
- Messages
- 19,657
- Reaction score
- 8,454
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
I have noticed a rather annoying thing with most people who have strong political opinions on legislation and that is they seem to have very little idea what they are talking about.
Case in point, I was talking to a friend who opposes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and they were very clear that they hated it and thought it was pure socialism. Just out of curiosity, I proposed an alternative idea, which really was not an alternative, but just a description of what the bill actually does, and my friend thought it was brilliant. That seems ridiculous to me. People form strong opinions on legislation without really having any clear idea of what it does. People seem to love the talking points repeated incessantly by the media and the politicians but nobody seems to take the time to do a little research themselves on what the legislation actually does or will do.
Another case is immigration reform. I've asked people who oppose it how long they think it takes to become a citizen and what steps people have to go through and they simply do not know. I ask what the currently proposed ideas for reform are and some think that the plan is to give full citizenship to illegal immigrants without any sort of process or wait whatsoever. They know that they oppose the current proposals for reform but do not know what is in the reforms. And once again I can play the card of simply describing what the reform proposals actually are and people generally agree that they are reasonable and that is what they politicians should be doing (even though that is what they currently are doing).
I personally think if someone went around and tested people on their knowledge of the legislation they oppose the vast majority would probably fail miserably. I am not asking that people support the legislation. I am asking that they at least have a basic knowledge of it and can explain why they oppose it in reasonable terms. I have gotten to the point where I just poke fun at people without them even knowing it by getting them to unkowning support the very bills and laws they ardently claim to oppose. Isn't that kind of messed up?
Case in point, I was talking to a friend who opposes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and they were very clear that they hated it and thought it was pure socialism. Just out of curiosity, I proposed an alternative idea, which really was not an alternative, but just a description of what the bill actually does, and my friend thought it was brilliant. That seems ridiculous to me. People form strong opinions on legislation without really having any clear idea of what it does. People seem to love the talking points repeated incessantly by the media and the politicians but nobody seems to take the time to do a little research themselves on what the legislation actually does or will do.
Another case is immigration reform. I've asked people who oppose it how long they think it takes to become a citizen and what steps people have to go through and they simply do not know. I ask what the currently proposed ideas for reform are and some think that the plan is to give full citizenship to illegal immigrants without any sort of process or wait whatsoever. They know that they oppose the current proposals for reform but do not know what is in the reforms. And once again I can play the card of simply describing what the reform proposals actually are and people generally agree that they are reasonable and that is what they politicians should be doing (even though that is what they currently are doing).
I personally think if someone went around and tested people on their knowledge of the legislation they oppose the vast majority would probably fail miserably. I am not asking that people support the legislation. I am asking that they at least have a basic knowledge of it and can explain why they oppose it in reasonable terms. I have gotten to the point where I just poke fun at people without them even knowing it by getting them to unkowning support the very bills and laws they ardently claim to oppose. Isn't that kind of messed up?