Issue Quiz and Party Loyalty
The teacher with whom I share a room has his kids taking the following quiz online:
http://www.3pc.net/matchmaker/quiz.html
I rated 86% Democrat.
During the last election I had my kids in Baltimore take a similar test. Almost half of the kids had more in common with the Republican platform than with the Democratic platform. They were horrified. Some kids would quickly shut off their computers when the results came in so that their neighbors would not see that they agreed with Republicans. I didn’t want to tell them how to vote – that is not my job as a teacher. In fact, their blind, thoughtless allegiance to the Democratic party is generally aligned with my voting preferences. However, we want to turn out citizens that vote on the basis of issues and logic, not on blind prejudices handed down from their parents. I can’t believe how many times I heard the blatant generalization: “Republicans hate Black people.”
I think the hardest task the Republican party has in attracting African-Americans is in overcoming this prejudice. On many issued, the African-Americans I taught in Baltimore (generally) agreed with Republicans: The majority of my students wanted Christianity to be endorsed by schools and the government, wanted prayer in the schools, wanted abortion to be illegal, and were tremendously hostile to the concept of equal rights for homosexuals. While significant gaps continued (and continue) to exist on other major issues, you would think this social conservatism would translate into some sympathy for the Republican Party.
Ah well. As the ML frequently notes, people do not always behave rationally in a democracy. Churchill: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”
Take the test. Do your voting plans match your issue-based party preference?
UPDATE: Your Maximum Leader took the test. He rated 76% Libertarian and 71% Republican. He has one beef with the test however. The default setting for the dropdowns will cause your score to slant Democratic if you skip a question by accident. He believes if the default was something other than "increase," "maintain," or "decrease" you might get a more accurate result.
http://www.3pc.net/matchmaker/quiz.html
I rated 86% Democrat.
During the last election I had my kids in Baltimore take a similar test. Almost half of the kids had more in common with the Republican platform than with the Democratic platform. They were horrified. Some kids would quickly shut off their computers when the results came in so that their neighbors would not see that they agreed with Republicans. I didn’t want to tell them how to vote – that is not my job as a teacher. In fact, their blind, thoughtless allegiance to the Democratic party is generally aligned with my voting preferences. However, we want to turn out citizens that vote on the basis of issues and logic, not on blind prejudices handed down from their parents. I can’t believe how many times I heard the blatant generalization: “Republicans hate Black people.”
I think the hardest task the Republican party has in attracting African-Americans is in overcoming this prejudice. On many issued, the African-Americans I taught in Baltimore (generally) agreed with Republicans: The majority of my students wanted Christianity to be endorsed by schools and the government, wanted prayer in the schools, wanted abortion to be illegal, and were tremendously hostile to the concept of equal rights for homosexuals. While significant gaps continued (and continue) to exist on other major issues, you would think this social conservatism would translate into some sympathy for the Republican Party.
Ah well. As the ML frequently notes, people do not always behave rationally in a democracy. Churchill: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”
Take the test. Do your voting plans match your issue-based party preference?
UPDATE: Your Maximum Leader took the test. He rated 76% Libertarian and 71% Republican. He has one beef with the test however. The default setting for the dropdowns will cause your score to slant Democratic if you skip a question by accident. He believes if the default was something other than "increase," "maintain," or "decrease" you might get a more accurate result.
posted by Anonymous at 1/05/2004 07:02:00 PM
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