Being Informed Not Simple

I get what political philosopher Jason Brennan is saying. I just don't think it's realisitc enough. Just by way of our education and interactions with people not all of them are political animals and therefore will not seek the political knowledge on issues he speaks of.

Nothing is clear cut though.

It seems we put quite a bit of the onus upon the voter but what about the system to which we are given and the pool of leaders to choose from?

Access to information essential to public transparency is limited. Something voters and citizens should pressure officials to change. Another problem is the creation of unelected and unaccountable bureaucracies like the CRTC and the Human rights commission. Are we just supposed to believe those people are properly and carefully selected like coffee beans? I don't. Too much patronage and nepotism in Canada - the record is clear on that front. Canada functions like an old boys network when it comes to this sort of stuff.

Still another hindrance is the party chooses its leaders. Unlike in the United States were party primaries give voters a shot at a leader. Politics is a personality cult affair; not an intellectual one.

Equally important is the campaign promises fed. A vote may base their decisions on, say, a party promising lower taxes only to find out they turn around and raise them after a massive spending spree due to unforeseen changes on the political landscape. What may be a pragmatic shift in policies looks like a lie to voters.

Equipped with these obstacles, we're then asked to be informed?

Anyone who thinks they know everything is a liar. No one does. Soon after the Americans decided to try suspected terrorists in a military court as opposed to a civil one, Attorney-General Eric Holder stood by his belief the civil courts were feasible:

"He castigated lawmakers in the U.S. Congress for interfering with the executive branch's decision, saying they were not privy to all the intelligence and legal strategies for prosecuting Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators."

A little arrogant but the point is made we're not all privy to the juiciest of information. Heck, I have friends in politics and they don't even know sometimes.

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The best we can do is know the issues and rationalize them the best we can since we can't possibly know answers to them all as there are too many competing values and beliefs injecting itself into creating a 'universal' truth.

Politics is a social science, not a science science. It's not a math equation.

And what is "smart" anyway?