TEDxJacksonville:Ben Warner on What is Good Governance?

[Metro Jacksonville]

TEDxJacksonville:Ben Warner on What is Good Governance?



Local government must often make decisions on multifaceted issues, and those choices have substantial implications for our community. But when those choices are made without robust citizen input, the quality of our governance suffers. Now, more than ever, it's important that each one of us assumes the burden of civic participation

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2015-may-tedxjacksonvilleben-warner-on-what-is-good-governance

[tufsu1]

a great guy that we have been lucky to have in Jax....and now he takes his talents to Italy!

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

His ideas seem to come from the right place, but with regards to voting turnout, what can we do to make it better?

I touched on this a bit the other day in conversation.  How can we engage the other 60% to come to the polls?  How would their presence actually affect the results?

You could try a model along the lines of mandatory voting, but how would that make the voters any more knowledgeable or even engaged? 

Here's a video I recently watch that  completely goes against most peoples' view on voting, although it falls directly in line with mine.

https://www.youtube.com/v/YHNE6OOFjrs

And keep in mind that Ben is discussing voting in general, while Sefan is specifically discussing national voting, and I think that's an important distinction to make.  I still have hope for small, local elections;  I do believe that each vote has an opportunity to count, but I'm also of the opinion that at the state and definitely the national level, it's an absolute exercise in futility.

[Redbaron616]

The problem is that there are very few politicians worthy to vote for. Several years ago, I quit voting for anyone affiliated with either major political party. It is pretty apparent that they are all about power and what happens to the overall country is not much on their radar. CEOs matter more than consumers and celebrities/rich people testify to Congress, but they care less what the average voter really wants. So if I find an independent/third-party candidate I like, I show up to vote. If there are none, I have no reason to vote. I stopped voting for the "lesser of two evils" because they are both evil.

His ideas seem to come from the right place, but with regards to voting turnout, what can we do to make it better?

I touched on this a bit the other day in conversation.  How can we engage the other 60% to come to the polls?  How would their presence actually affect the results?

You could try a model along the lines of mandatory voting, but how would that make the voters any more knowledgeable or even engaged? 

Here's a video I recently watch that  completely goes against most peoples' view on voting, although it falls directly in line with mine.

https://www.youtube.com/v/YHNE6OOFjrs

And keep in mind that Ben is discussing voting in general, while Sefan is specifically discussing national voting, and I think that's an important distinction to make.  I still have hope for small, local elections;  I do believe that each vote has an opportunity to count, but I'm also of the opinion that at the state and definitely the national level, it's an absolute exercise in futility.

[Redbaron616]

are you old enough to vote red baron?

Of course.