I'm trying to figure out who the fuck these mythical swing voters who can decide a presidential election are, because I have a message for them.
When I say "swing voter," I'm not talking about someone who makes a principled shift from one end of the ideological spectrum to the other over the course of their life. I'm also not talking about people like "Obama Republicans," intelligent people who had traditionally voted Republican but who felt that their party had gone off the deep end and felt no choice but to vote for Obama in 2008.
And if anyone out there really has as eclectic a set of beliefs as this guy, then fine, I sympathize.
But you know who I'm talking about. People who think the president sets the price of gasoline. Whose vote is for sale for a $600 tax cut. (I can sympathize with that being a significant amount of money for a lot of people, but if they can't learn to understand their own fortunes in the larger context of policies and trends which have effects overs long periods of time, then they'll continue to get the butt-ass leaders they deserve.)
I wouldn't be shocked if there are get-rich-quick entrepreneurial types who build and then squander fortunes so quickly - while lacking any broader understanding of economics - that one election they're all for the capital gains tax-demolishing Republicans who want to let them keep their money, and by the next they're voting for Democrats while crying about being part of "the 99 percent."
Why do I hate them? Because, due to their disproportionate influence, the media panders to them, the candidates pander to them, and before you know it, we're all hostage to yet another election cycle in which their simplistic fantasies about how the world works drag the level of public discourse even lower than it normally is.
I'm going to do some reading on the phenomenon of swing voters and come back with more thoughts if it seems worthwhile. But in the meantime, if you encounter any of the specific brand of swing voter I'm talking about, please convey my message to them:
Eat a dick up.
You usually have those „swing voters” in two-party system – like US, so it’s not my pair of shoes. But I can understand and see the problem. When you have a multi-party system (most of EU) then you have a bunch of “undecided voters”. Practically it is the same thing as politicians would like to “buy their votes” somehow. Quite often it’s just not enough to talk to your natural electorate, you simply HAVE TO gather more votes. And then the “market of promises” begins. And then – if you are an optimist with an idealistic approach – it’s great thing as politicians have to change their style a bit. But being a realist ... well, they simply adding a bunch of new lies to their usual fairytales. So, I can see the advantage of having a group of swing-voters but in some cases it may be also a huge problem. In other words – I can understand why you are so pissed-off :D
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