Thursday, October 16, 2008

political affiliations, isolation and attachment, health: Interesting survey or secondary data topic

Are affiliates of right wing or social Darwinist parties more lilkely to suffer from certain chronic preventable illnesses or risky habits like smoking than left leaning affiliates. Does a philosophy that stresses individualism and personal responsibility and personal wealth accumulation (philosophically or in Buddhist terms isolation and attachment) lead to the isolation and guilt over personal faiure associated with some illnesses. If so, in the US one could offer health insurance based on long term political membership and have degree of risk predictability.

Some related observations:

- lots of lefties smoke, drink and overeat too
- poverty is mostly associated with ill health, 2 exceptions being risk of car accidents and alcohol consumption; right wing views are associated positively with wealth I seem to recall
- are right wing views associated with fatalism and disbelief of the research showing that lifestyle changes (or collective/legislative/enforcement against hazards like pollution) can affect health?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

ranked choice polling could lead to ranked choice voting

Could polls which say "how would you rank the candidates if your vote would always count eg you could vote green or libertarian and you did not have to fear the most worst if you did not vote for the least worst". Unlike proportional, ranked choice or instant runoff voting leads to a near majority for the winner. at least as a second or third or 4th choice and could be the real way to foster "radical" (in the Harry Belafonte sense) change we can believe in and alternative parties. Excellent Wikipedia entry here.