Woops!

Source: "Why Voters Play Follow-the-Leader" by Shankar Vedantam, The Washington Post, February 4, 2008.

Excerpt:

How do we form preferences when we do not fully understand complex issues? We fall back on heuristics, or mental shortcuts. New research suggests the most powerful of these is to find leaders with whom we feel cultural kinship -- and then follow whatever they recommend.

"It is much easier to look at someone and say, 'What are those person's values -- are they like mine or not? If they are like mine, I can trust this person to come up with policies that are in my interest because they share my values,' " said Donald Braman, an anthropologist at George Washington University Law School. "This is what happens in a lot of politics."

Comment: Actually this seems like a pretty good heuristic, assuming the person you trust not only shares your values, but has considered the issue and come to a reasoned decision.

Unfortunately, some candidates have figured out that they can lie to the voters about what their values are, and get elected to make decisions that their constituents would never approve. JAD