Delta County MI Candidate Debates: (04/23/2024) League of Women Voters Improves Collective Candidate Knowledge

Delta County MI League of Women Voters put on a great debate! I wish we had a few more of these in the area because you learn a lot about the candidates. Debates help create informed citizens who know what their candidates believe and their values (party neutral statement). Each new question helps us gain insight and that can support democracy through encouraging informed citizens that are based in their personal perspective (Not everyone agrees but I think its important.)  You can learn more about the League of Women Voters HERE and HERE.

Escanaba Marina

Remember we are doing this in the spirit of learning so everything in this post is party neutral because it is a discussion on voting and democracy in general. This report helps us think how viewers make inferences and the more we know about candidate positions the less other social factors take precedence.

Do citizens make inferences from political candidate characteristics when aiming for substantive representation?

We may watch debates on social media but we might forget that the answers were seeded a long time ago in our home and hearth. Each answer is within a wider context of the environment and one's place within that environment. The more aware a person is of their environment the better they can craft an answer that resonates with them and others.

The study doesn't really discuss this but these debates start with different ways of viewing the world and on an intimate level candidates share how things could, should, and out to be in their perspective. Much of agreement and disagreement is on these shared or divergent world views. We are like fish in a fish bowl who struggle to see past own perception (That is almost every person on the planet). We might be able to recognize other fish in another fish bowl but we swim in our own schools. 

 Americans misperceive the frequency and format of political debate

A few key points came out of the meeting:

-Attract Small Business and Large Business (Good idea. Might require a coordinated marketing effort to maximize industrial interest as well as downtown entrepreneurship. Delta County has both an industrial park and affordable downtown properties.).

-Make the county a destination-tourism. (Good idea. Will need the downtown to get a paint job and a few new businesses. That could be encourage through grants, marketing, low interest loans, etc.)

-Year round industries. (Good idea. Its called hedging in cluster development. Seasonal tourism, mixed with retail, mixed with industries that run throughout the year create more stable income bases with multiple avenues for growth. Likewise, when one can get two factors to work together like tourism, store fronts, retail, events, outdoor adventure, entrepreneurs they are creating net positives that strengthen and enhance each other.)

-Discussion on Pay (One would need to raise the tax revenue to make this easier and that doesn't always come from raising taxes alone. Think of net positive to attract new industry, use grants to improve the infrastructure and appeal, and then build a brand for the area. If you can attract business and more revenue then you have done so in a fiscally sustainable way.)

-Discussion on DEI and Diversity (This is a growing political discussion nationally.)

If your interested in knowing more about Delta County MI click HERE. TV6 Coverage of debate HERE. As background the area received a $1billion or more investment in the paper industry and in a town of 10K residents it will have a big impact.