In these 22 news releases or announcements I have attempted to show societal trends which have impacted our voting procedures.
The societal trends include the increasing reliance on government, the growing alarm over the climate (it is always changing), the flourishing determination to eliminate a virus, the thriving manipulation of gender, and centralizing tendencies of organizations.
The promoters of these trends make use of a very effective marketing strategy: the nudge. People who would resist certain changes can be lulled into acceptance if the change is implemented slowly by way of nudges.
We see nudges in the determination to eliminate a virus. The first nudge was to flatten the curve to protect our hospitals. Government took action that it had never done before in my lifetime - it closed the schools.
The next nudge was a reminder of hygiene, washing hands, coughing into elbow, social distancing, staying home when sick. This nudge was beneficial. We had a flu season in 2020 without any flu!
We are all aware of the series of nudges that followed. The nudge to wear a mask. The nudge to accept a temporary mask mandate. The nudge to get a jabba jabba with the novel gene therapy. The nudge to get an internet based government ID card with its potential for surveillance. The nudge to be grateful for restricted access to restaurants, gyms and entertainment events. The nudge to blame unvaccinated people. The nudge to ridicule the foundational principle of choice.
These Charlie-One-Niner nudges were not fully apparent when I launched the petition, but other societal trends were apparent and were using the nudge strategy.
As far as voting opportunities go, advance polls and in-town vote-by-mail are part of the trend to bigger government. The argument on the voter turnout front is that turnout can be increased if voting is made to be more convenient. Advance poll days will make voting easier to schedule. In-town vote-by-mail will allow voting from the comfort of home. These were in addition to the very useful absentee voting opportunities.
The argument from convenience is widely accepted and such unquestioning acceptance is the main goal of every nudge strategy. So what is being nudged with 21st century changes to our voting procedures? I think it is community attachment, or more accurately, a diminution of community attachment. When almost all ballots are cast on Election Day, it is a major community event. By allowing ballots to be cast on multiple days and in different ways the act of voting is no longer the community celebration it once was.
I see a common thread in the above mentioned societal trends - to weaken personal attachments in favour of impersonal ones. Public adoration is given to those who are saving blamelessly the world but not to anyone who is protecting selfishly his or her private domain.
The trends are active on many levels and I contrast the ideas, beliefs, attitudes and actions of a globalist with those of a localist.
I compare and contrast the following ideas, beliefs, attitudes and actions:
Globalist <-> Localist
Singleton <-> Couple
Promiscuous <-> Married
Indulge self <-> Create children
Relative values <-> Everlasting values
Vote early <-> Vote election day
General government <-> Limited government
Gloomy <-> Joyful
Sad <-> Confident
These comparison are presented graphically in the blue social media post below.
