One Woman’s View
Tired of campaign hype?
Contributing writer
How many of you out there are tired of all the campaign advertising? And the general election is still two months away.
Before I start a rather angry diatribe, I want to make two things clear.
First, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere but the good old U.S.A.; it is the greatest country in the world.
Second, I know it is a lot easier to come up with a long list of problems in the way our election system works than it is to come up with one definitive solution.
Still, I do see some serious problems regarding today’s campaign practices.
It seems to me that offices are bought these days. Perhaps this was always true, but it seems more so all the time.
It takes a fortune to run an effective campaign. The point does not seem to be to inform the public on a candidate’s record and position on major issues. The point is simply to get his or her name universally recognized with campaign posters or sound bites.
Although I admit it is not an intelligent way to vote, I have sometimes deliberately voted for a candidate I had never heard of. My logic was that if a candidate did not have money enough to get his name recognized, he or she probably had more concern for us ordinary poor folks and probably did not owe favors to special interest groups.
Another problem with the extreme expense of an effective campaign is that the system invites (almost guarantees) corruption.
Where does all the money for such a campaign come from? There are always businesses and groups willing to donate large sums because they want to control a candidate’s votes.
If a candidate wants to be re-elected, he or she must give contributors what they have paid for. Where does that leave the rest of us?
It is very difficult to get solid information about candidates. You scarcely hear of those who do not have access to the big bucks. With those who do advertise aggressively it is difficult to ferret out the truth. It often comes down to “he did” and “I didn’t.” Who is lying?
I have done a lot of substitute teaching. Some candidates remind me of fourth-graders tattling on each other at recess.
Unfortunately, voters seem to like to be lied to. Another “must” for being elected is to tell the voters what they want to hear. Never admit that you will raise taxes, even though it is bound to happen.
Twenty-five years ago, an admirably honest presidential candidate said, “Yes, whether you elect me or my opponent, your taxes will go up.”
His name was Walter Mondale, and he was buried in the biggest landslide victory in presidential history. You guessed it. His opponent, Ronald Reagan, plunged the country into more debt than it had ever seen.
We elect people to public office presumably because we think they may know more than we do. Then we get angry if they do any independent thinking.
A politician who does not toe the party line will almost certainly face opposition from within his or her own party in the next election.
We need independent thinkers with backbone, but we make it very hard for them to survive.
I’d like to see some reform in campaign financing, although I admit that most ways to achieve this would raise free speech issues.
I would be in favor of each candidate receiving the same amount of television time, preferably long enough to make his or her position clear, not just a series of 30 second commercials.
I’m not certain how this could be financed, but it certainly would level the playing field.
I also would like to see more public forums and other opportunities for candidates to speak directly to the voters. I am old enough to remember when Harry Truman took his appeal directly to the voters in his whistle-stop campaign and won re-election when almost nobody thought he would.
OK, we are all tired of campaign hype and mudslinging, and that could tempt us to throw up our hands and stay away from the polls on Election Day.
Do not succumb to that temptation. With all its shortcomings, our system gives every citizen a voice in our government. I take some pride in the fact that I have never missed voting in any election, either primary or general, since I attained voting age in 1960.
I admit to some shame that I have not always been as well informed as I should have been, but I have exercised my franchise. I hope you all will do the same.