11-03-2004, 04:08 PM
Thanks, but it's funny, during the Clinton years I wasn't particularly well-informed. Not just because I was a teenager back then, either, because at the time I was pretty darn well schooled in Canadian politics. But it's the negativity I feel towards Bush's policies that have driven me to learning about why he can get elected. My knowledge and opinions (never the twain shall meet, eh?) of American politics was inspired by negative emotions, which are far more compelling than pleasant ones. If Al Gore had won in 2000, I probably would still be semi-oblivious about American politics, but the baffling, confounding, mind-boggling 2000 election really set me on a course towards wanting to understand how THAT can be the electoral model of the world's seemingly most powerful country. I know I am not 100% informed, because I have to rely on a lot of third-party information...I'm not right there in the thick of it. If CNN or a newspaper article tells me something, I consider its validity and if it seems to make sense in the context of what I already know, I hold it to be true. I get tripped up every now and then because of inaccurate reportage saying things that I have no way of knowing are not accurate. But I do try to be informed, as well informed as anybody can be from the outside.
