Raise the Hammer

Thank you @GetGoing for clarifying my comment, as you are correct in that I was identifying Jason's position versus the term.

I'm a tad concerned that Jason believes "...that if everyday people in Hamilton get a chance to speak out about what they value - the results are going to be pretty similar to what I value." And while he is willing to put that "belief on the line", he doesn't state whether he'd be willing to adapt his values if the results show that they differ from his.

What clouds the agenda is the presumption of the concerns of the voters through highlighting a few issues which may or may not be of a concern of the voter. The sample survey asks 34 questions that are a marketer's dream when it comes to reporting the results.

As an example, question 3 asks: "The priority of road and traffic design should be to promote fast movement of cars and trucks throughout the city" -Strongly disagree; Disagree; Neither agree or disagree; Agree; Stongly agree; Don't know

Question 4 then asks, "Road and traffic design should give priority to community and environmental concerns (such as noise, levels of social interaction, safety or pollution). With the same multiple-choice answer options as above.

I'll be willing to put a small wager on the table that the responses will show that close to 100% will 'disagree or strongly disagree' with question 3, & the same percentage will 'agree or strongly agree' with question 4.

What I fail to see in questons of this type, is how this has anything to do with the candidates running for (re)election? I seriously doubt that any of them would differ from the results. Where are the questions on civic engagement?

Perhaps the HCL does not have their own opinions on certain matters, but like @GetGoing, I haven't seen anything to the contrary.

Comment edited by DanielRodrigues on 2010-07-20 15:53:58