dimwit philly gun owner

[wellcraft]

so i'm talking firearms with a gun owner in philly and he's complaining about the constant push for more gun control in philly and how additional gun control only hurts honest law abiding citizens. so far so good, then i asked him who he voted for in the last few elections and he voted for Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004, voted for john street twice and skipped the latest mayoral election but would have voted for nutter. i asked why if he's concerned about gun control would he constantly vote for liberal democrats that run on anti-gun platforms. i got the deer in the headlight's look and then the usual mumbo jumbo about voting democrat all his life. the man couldn't even tell me why he voted for gore or kerry. i told him he needed to research the issues that are important to him and then vote for a candidate who most closely matches his morals and principles and not for somebody just because they have a D or R next to their name. i'm not 100% sure i got through to the guy but it's amazing how uninformed people that vote really are.

[WHEELGUN357]

You hit the nail right on the head... everyone knew when Nutter was running for mayor what his intentions were... he had already tried to sue local gun shops. and had been spewing all that anti-gun shit for months.... and yet some gun owners voted him in and now they are bitching about it.....

[PA Rifleman]

That's basically it, but there are more details. Unions have a high membership in urban areas, and they push their constituents to vote almost straight Democrat. So guys that drive trucks, operate cranes and others in the construction trade frequently vote Democrat even though they're otherwise identical to us.

Interestingly, they're the same ones that take the first day off for hunting season.

[LittleRedToyota]

but it's amazing how uninformed people that vote really are.

indeed!

that's why i hate all those non-partisan "get out the vote" campaigns...they encourage uniformed voting.

if someone isn't motivated enough to vote without being begged to, they sure as heck ain't gonna be motivated to enough to actually get informed about the candidates.

frankly, i don't want those people voting. i'm not saying their right to vote should be infringed, but i don't see why you would encourage them to go vote...unless you are doing a partisan "get out and vote for X" campaign...that makes sense to me--sort of trying to multiply your own vote...but to just say "i'm not going to suggest you vote for anyone in particular, just go vote (even though you have no idea what any of the candidates stand for)" really makes no sense to me whatsoever.

the key to democracy is not "participation", it is "informed participation". "uninformed participation" is a disaster waiting to happen.

(which...going off topic...is one of the things i don't get about obama supporters. one of their biggest selling points is "he offers hope and gets young people involved in the politcal process". ok, but do those young people have any idea why they should be hopeful...or even if they even really should be hopeful? do they have any idea whether the hope he is selling is at all realistic? what is it based on? is it based on rational logic and sound reasoning or is it a cult of personality? and, for that matter, hope for what?)