In this article additional information is presented for Prescription #9 of “Some Prescriptions For Productive Goals” which is : Consider voting for candidates (e.g., President of the United States) based upon levels of intuition in addition to other areas you believe deserve consideration (see “The Voter Scorecard”, Healthy Change : Part Five — Some Prescriptions For Productive Goals, #1 ). Case examples of identified United States Presidential candidates plan to be done to help determine the usefulness of considering voting for candidates based upon levels of intuition (and, perhaps adding it to The Voter Scorecard).
The Voter Scorecard may be especially helpful and useful to the extent it is actually used, users study the issues well, and the actual contents placed in The Voter Scorecard are relevant. Some users may just choose to use only a portion of what The Voter Scorecard can do. For example, some may choose to only identify Topics and/or Subtopics without resorting to any degree of quantification (in effect, identify a list). Some may choose to quantify results and instead of crossing out any major topic or subtopic that they choose not to consider that is already on The Voter Scorecard they may just weight the major topic or subtopic on The Voter Scorecard as a zero. Some may choose to define terms in the glossary to help clarify the issues they are examining independent of whether or not they choose to quantify the results (please see the example Voter Scorecard below with some example Glossary Terms; the author also added “Intuition” as a subtopic under the Major Topic of “The Person”).
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The Voter Scorecard Copyright © 1988 Louis DeCola, Jr. All Rights Reserved
A Rational Decision-Making Method
Voting behavior is important in a democracy. The Voter Scorecard can help you make voting decisions. It can help you develop a type of rational decision-making skill. The Voter Scorecard could help to ensure that you fully consider issues you consider important. The Voter scorecard process could be compared to the present process by which you make voting decisions.
The Voter Scorecard could be used for any voting situation, from voting on a single issue, choosing among presidential candidates, or electing a high school student council representative. A representative of people (e.g., U.S. House Representative) could even show constituents how (s)he voted by showing them her/his Voter Scorecard. The Voter Scorecard could provide an explicit basis as to how the representative made a decision and facilitate, in turn, voting for the representative by her/his constituents.
People may wish to discuss the basis of their decisions with others. In fact, The Voter Scorecard tells something about the personality of the scorer. A candidate could be assessed at different time intervals to look at changes (in the scorer or candidate). Even past office holders can be assessed. The Voter Scorecard could thus have practical, educational, and entertainment value.
Directions For Use Of The Voter Scorecard : 5 Steps
WARNING TO THE UNINITIATED : This could take some thought.
1. Listed below are several categories to consider. Major Topics are in boxes and listed below are subtopics. If a topic or subtopic is unimportant, cross it out. If you believe that important major topics and/or subtopics have not been listed write in topics and/or subtopics that you believe consideration.
2. Weight each subtopic relative to every other subtopic. For example, if all categories are equal, weight the categories a “1”. If a category such as leadership is twice as important to you as intelligence, weight leadership with a number that is twice as large as intelligence. (Suggestion : Rank all subtopics from least to most important, giving the least important subtopic(s) a numerical rating of one and more important subtopics higher relative numbers.)
3. Score each subtopic using same numerical rating scale. A possible scale to use is provided. Be certain to use the numerical scale as you do each Voter Scorecard so comparisons can be done easily.
4. Multiply weighted values by scores to get subtotals. Add up subtotals within each major topic area. Then add totals of all categories to get a grand total.
5. Compare grand totals of candidates. The candidate with the highest score would receive your vote according to the Voter Scorecard Decision-Making Method of Voting. Candidates or issues can be additionally compared across major topic areas (e.g., “Foreign”) or subtopic areas (e.g., “education).
Suggested Scoring
One method of scoring The Voter Scorecard is given below. If you find that you have difficulties scoring or did not have an opinion, you may wish to find out more relevant information so you can either form an opinion or come to firmer conclusions.
Select the appropriate number to end the sentence :
Regarding this aspect of the candidate/issue, I :
7 – AM STRONGLY FAVORABLE
6 – AM FAVORABLE
5 – AM SLIGHTLY FAVORABLE
4 – HAVE NO OPINION
3 – AM SLIGHTLY UNFAVORABLE
2 – AM UNFAVORABLE
1 – AM STRONGLY UNFAVORABLE
The Voter Scorecard for ___________________________
Decision : ______________________________________
Candidate/ Issue: ________________________________ Picture of Candidate
Areas To Consider Weighting : Relative Importance Score Subtotals
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[Foreign: ] ____________________________________________________________
Trade ____________________________________________________________
Defense ____________________________________________________________
Terrorism ____________________________________________________________
Sanctions ____________________________________________________________
Drugs ____________________________________________________________
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Foreign Subtotal :______
[Domestic: ] __________________________________________________________
Taxes __________________________________________________________
Energy __________________________________________________________
Budget Deficit _______________________________________________________
Education __________________________________________________________
Environment ________________________________________________________
Health _____________________________________________________________
Jobs _______________________________________________________________
Welfare _____________________________________________________________
Urban Policy _________________________________________________________
Wages ______________________________________________________________
Law & Order _________________________________________________________
Drugs ______________________________________________________________
Abortion ___________________________________________________________
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Domestic Subtotal : ______
[The Person (if examining candidate versus an issue) : ] _________________________
Reliability ___________________________________________________________
Stability _____________________________________________________________
Honesty _____________________________________________________________
Intelligence __________________________________________________________
Judgement ___________________________________________________________
Insight ______________________________________________________________
Creativity ____________________________________________________________
Leadership ___________________________________________________________
Past Record __________________________________________________________
*Intuition (added)*_____________________________________________________
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The Person Subtotal______
[Write-In Major Topic:_______ ] ___________________________________________
Subtopic:_______________________________________________________________
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Write-In Subtotal : _______
[Write-In Major Topic:_______ ] ____________________________________________
Subtopic:________________________________________________________________
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Write-In Subtotal:_________
Grand Total :[______]
Glossary
Some Glossary Examples:
(The Voter Scorecard user could choose to define any terms in the way that they choose.)
“Foreign policy refers to the ways in which nations advance their interests and objectives in world politics. Countries ordinarily pursue their objectives through diplomacy (official negotiations) with other countries and through participation in international organizations. However, in certain cases, countries use military force to protect their interests…foreign policy commonly include environmental protection, human rights issues, international trade, and the prevention or resolution of armed conflict…” (The World Book Encyclopedia 2011, F, Volume 7, page 387, copyright 2011)
Intuition or Sensation-Intuition :
In the dissertation titled “The Relationship Between the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory”, copyrighted and originally published in 1992, on pages 195-196 (information was referenced from Myers I.B. & McCaulley, M.H., 1985, “Manual : A guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.” Palo Alto, CA : Consulting Psychologists Press.) the author wrote : “Sensing and intuition are ways of becoming aware of things, people, events, or ideas, being attuned to the flow of events. Sensing is perception by the senses and establishes what exists. The focus is on what is presently happening and what is real. Persons oriented toward sensing often enjoy the present, are realistic, observe well with a good memory for details, and are practical. Intuition enables perception of possibilities, meanings, and relationships through insight. Intuitive perceptions can be hunches, creative discoveries, and seeing patterns among events, originating in the unconscious. Persons oriented toward intuition may neglect present reality, be imaginative, theoretical, abstract, future oriented, or creative.”
The Voter Scorecard
Copyright © 1988 Louis DeCola, Jr. All Rights Reserved
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Major topics and subtopics currently in The Voter Scorecard above (with the exception of “Intuition or Sensation-Intuition” which was added) seem to represent many of the areas the mainstream media regularly covers (e.g., Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, and specific positions on Budget Deficit and specific positions on how to best deal with Terrorism). The United States commenced Use of Military Force against Iraq per mainstream media accounts in March 2003 (with troops still there in November 2011). This action does appear to have impacted the United States economy greatly. The author will examine if utilizing level of intuition could help determine the specific positions the candidates took on this apparently important issue.
An estimated level of intuition will be obtained from (vocational history derived) Holland codes. According to John Holland (page 28, “Making Vocational Choices” Third Edition, copyright 1973, 1985, 1992, 1997 by Psychological Assessment Resources Inc.), “We can assess a person’s personality type by qualitative methods. A person may express vocational preferences for or hold employment in an occupation that is characteristic of that type; he or she may express preferences for or be engaged in educational training that is characteristic of that type. For example, a person may want to become a physicist, be employed as a physicist, or plan to major in physics, or be enrolled as a physics major. Any one of these four indicators results in being classified as an Investigative type. This classification is accomplished by comparing a person’s educational or vocational interests with vocations assumed to be typical of each type (see Appendix B). In the preceding example, ‘physicist’ is one of the occupations that define the Investigative type. To take another example, a social worker would be classified as a Social type because ‘social worker’ is one of the vocational criteria of this type.” It is important to point out that Holland codes for an occupation can change over time apparently due to the typical job environment for that occupation having changed over time. After Holland Codes are identified, some research (e.g., dissertation of the author) examining relationships between personality variables and vocational interests will assist in helping to estimate level of intuition. The ability to estimate level of intuition using this method may yield only a rough measure (e.g., High, Medium, Low) relative to if testing material and/or an interview were (also) used. Positions of candidates on the Use of Military Force against Iraq prior to the commencement of The Iraq War will be taken from either congressional voting behavior if applicable (e.g., United States House Joint Resolution 114 – Use of Military Force Against Iraq in October 2002), position statements at the time, and/or other contemporaneous information available in the mainstream media. This brief examination could help to determine the practical value of voting for candidates (e.g., President of the United States) based upon levels of intuition in addition to other areas that people believe deserve consideration.
The candidates the author has have thus far been looking at include the current 2012 United States Presidential Candidates President Barack Obama, Jr., Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Jon Huntsman, Jr. The author will be examining an estimated level of intuition (or, sensation-intuition) and their positions on Use of Military Force against Iraq (prior to The Iraq War commencement). Some candidates will likely be easier than others to examine well under this identified format.
The candidates themselves or their representatives are each invited to comment, make recommendations, and/or add to the information in The Hygiology Post. Also, all of the aforementioned United States Presidential candidates are invited to be interviewed (for almost any purpose and in basically any format they choose to be interviewed) by and write an article for publication in The Hygiology Post.
The author plans to expound upon Prescription #9 (Prescription #9 of “Some Prescriptions For Productive Goals” is : Consider voting for candidates [e.g., President of The United States] based upon levels of intuition in addition to other areas you believe deserve consideration) with additional information in The Hygiology Post.
The Hygiology Post welcomes feedback from readers on all six parts of the series (individually and/or as a total package) upon completion of the series as to whether the articles help fulfill its vision and mission.
Louis DeCola, Jr. © 2011 The Hygiology Post