Informed Citizenship

A mad protocol

I thought maybe I could read about the 2020 presidential democratic candidates and pick someone, as a project, today.  But then I realized...

there are 18 main candidates, and 227 total have filed, so far.
    issues should be the reason for selection, not anything else, right?
SO, read all of procon.org, and figure out where you stand!
    But, this is a massive project.
Being an informed citizen is a full-time job, itself.

Plus, you should read the news, and not just one news source, either.
And maybe I should reconsider which camp I identify with.
I think I'm an independent moderate, but maybe I should take one of those quizzes that tell you, like I last did in college.

   in other words, judging by appearance, youth, sex, race should be the smallest, if any, factors in your selection (in my opinion).   Otherwise, I'd just pick Beto and Gabbard, the beautiful people!
(although, maybe happy people are better than grumps like Trump or Bernie?)

So,
NEWS
I want to read the Economist, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times
in addition to wikipedia news, the onion, yahoo, and facebook
(and the occasional perusal, at libraries, of things like
     Mad magazine, People, the Utne reader, Bloomberg)
Foreign Affairs, also, I think.

ISSUES
procon.org

CANDIDATES
wikipedia

come election time, I'm in the habit of relying heavily on the Green Party voter's guide.
Because, making the right choices with integrity
requires discipline, dedication, the ability to speed-read, and -honestly-
knowing who to trust to serve as a proxy for help in making the wisest choice.

Furthermore, which candidates will make you happiest?
Maybe idiots that make you feel smart, or who you can laugh at on late night tv?
Or, maybe, smart people you can feel comfortable with delegating judgment to.
Maybe the happiest the entire country is, will effect your own personal happiness...
   in which case, you might not even know your own best interests!

Personally,
I think global development and the world economy and international peace trump national considerations, and we should try and see the big picture (such as how would a pope vote, or does voting even matter, in the first place?!). How would the devil vote?  Is history a dialectic, and should you therefore vote for the worst, in the hope of eventual shambala!?

"in the end, it doesn't even matter" -Linkin Park
"Be Good" -God

Beto, Bernie, Buttigieg, Booker (Biden?)
Gabbard, Gillibrand, Gravel
Julian and John and Jay (Castro, Delaney, Inslee)
Harris and Hickenlooper
Wayne, Williamson
Amy and Andrew (Klobuchar and Yang) AK! Ay!
Eric and Tim, ha
I'm told Elizabeth Warren has the best policy-ideas :-)