There's a Pill for That!
The author of a book on "voter dysfunction," Victoria Bassetti, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times ("Is America Man Enough To Vote?" Well, is it??) that implicates biology in our apparent aversion to voting--an activity that causes emotions:
Studies by the geneticist and social scientist James Fowler suggest that serotonin, the neurotransmitter connected to mood disorders and depression, is strongly implicated in voting behavior.
Often called the utility hormone, serotonin plays a role in our ability, among other things, to absorb disappointment (or worse), while maintaining social and emotional balance. In one of Mr. Fowler’s studies, people with the genetic code for efficient serotonin systems were more likely to vote — and more likely to return to the polls in subsequent elections, even if their candidate lost. Mr. Fowler hypothesizes that people with more durable serotonin systems can better handle the intensity of voting.
As absurd — or useful — as it may be to think about hormones and voting, studies like Mr. Fowler’s don’t really help us grapple with the complex issues facing our democracy. This year, more than ever, our quest to understand voter turnout strains against the unruly, partisan way we actually run elections.
Now, more than ever in all of history, we must confront the anxiety of making a choice and living with the consequences. Science can't really help us at the moment, but the future may provide an absolution, er, solution for this messy personal obligation:
Voters need every bit of emotional resilience they can find. Perhaps the pharmaceutical industry will come up with a little blue pill to make people voters. But until then, we may need to man up and face facts.
It's going to take awhile for this not even remotely menacing future to unfold, so we might as well do something in the meantime, right?
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Comments:
Nov '10
Re: There's a Pill for That!
DSM, take note.
Oct '10
Re: There's a Pill for That!
Perhaps we will get to choose between the blue pill or the red pill.
Aug '10
Re: There's a Pill for That!
Another good reason to defeat Barack Obama: to make his more serotonin-deficient followers cringe from voting in the future.
Mar '11
Re: There's a Pill for That!
You'll take the pill the government prescribes and like it!
Oct '10
Re: There's a Pill for That!
One word: SSRI.
Oct '12
Re: There's a Pill for That!
Two thoughts:
1. In Psych 101, I learned a basic scientific principle; correlation does not imply causality.
2. Please tell me my tax dollars didn't fund this ridiculous study.
Jan '12
Re: There's a Pill for That!
For more info on the Psch's see cchr.org
Jul '12
Re: There's a Pill for That!
No thanks. I live in New York, and our senior senator is the biggest pill I know.
Jun '10
Re: There's a Pill for That!
I say we just mobilize the National Guard and herd people to the polls.
If some voters don't show sufficient "emotional resilience," we'll just have a federal government-appointed representative of the IGVSP ("Independent Governement Voting Support Board"--it's one of those little-known Obamacare Boards that the MSM hasn't told us about) fill out their ballot for them.
Mar '11
Re: There's a Pill for That!
If there is anything that's sure to improve our floundering republic, it is getting a greater number of the more-than-likely uninformed and chemically imbalanced but mildly medicated folks to the polls...