We Need Change

No this blog is not about you choice between Republican or Democratic candidates. This blog is about how we allow politicians to campaign. Three years ago I turned off television service in part due to political ads. Haven't missed it a minute. And more and people are disconnecting from their satellite and cable services for any number of reasons ergo politicians are looking for other ways to get your attention: calls on your cell phone so you have to pay for the minutes, calls on your land line if you still have one, fliers, junk mail, e-mail spamming, and billboards and yard signs.

The "off-year" elections have to be the absolute worse for yard signs and junk mail. I appreciate the political contribution of junk mail to my stack of paper for lighting fires since you vetoed my SS increase again this year and the local electrical coop is again raising my rates. Just a tip: I hardly ever bother to open it except to make it burn faster.

Every state has rules about the placement of yard signs but as far as I have noticed they are never followed. One of the rules in my state is they have to be taken down within 48 hours of the election. Like that ever happens. And they are suppose to have the property owner's permission. I know that doesn't happen. I say we just ban them. The candidates can spend their money on holding town meetings and explaining their views if they have any.

But I think it is past time to do away with the 2-year term for congress. I worked for a United States Senator and it is virtually impossible to get up to speed on all the issues within the first two years. What representatives do the minute they take office is begin running for the next term and collecting money to pay of the yard sign bill so they can start ordering more.

Let's change their term to 4 years and elect them on off years from the president. And limit their consecutive terms of office to just two for a total of eight years. If they want to hit the ground running their first term they should maintain 50% of the previous representative's staff for at least the first two years. Believe me it is the staff members that are up on all the procedures and legislation. The only thing the newly elected representative knows is how to get elected.

We are wasting entirely too much time and money on this election stuff and not spending enough of our resources or attention on solving the problems of this nation or world. And that, my friends, goes for both parties!

Oh, and voters - don't select who you vote for based on name recognition. Know their campaign promises. And if you don't know that candidate then don't cast a vote for or against. You can leave blanks on your ballot. Make an informed choice. Not a choice based on that yard sign

And the Winner is

The United States has the longest selection process for its president of any country in the world. And probably the most expensive. And yet picking our leader is not much different than picking our laundry detergents. Except if we don't like the brand of detergent we are not stuck with it for four years.

The most expensive part of any political campaign is the media buys. Giuliani just asked his head campaign workers to work for free for a month or to so he can buy more commercial time in Florida. Bit odds are that these expensive ads will not educate us about why he will be a better president but why his competition won't be.

The negativity of campaign advertising sets us up for voting for the last of two evils because we know only the most negative things about the candidates due to the competing commercials.

This presidential election we have had the opportunity to view all the primary candidates in a variety of debate formats and ergo get to know how well they have memorized the answers and the phrasing of those answers as determined by their speech writers. All we can truly say about them is they are well rehearsed and well made up. Since the debates between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy no campaign is unaware of the importance of image on the little screen. I frankly would love to see one of them wearing a green or purple tie. I am rather tired of red or blue. But just like some marketing company figured out the color for Tide's packaging they figured out the correct color for the tie.

In the final days we will be bombarded with television commercials and not all of them complied by the candidate and his campaign. Some of the most negative will be by PAC's or political action committees wanting to get their candidate elected so they can continue to have tax breaks, price supports or favorable legislation in the future. Because of the high price of media campaigns most candidates and their political positions are bought and paid for before they take office.

What if we made it illegal for them to run television ads. Or any political committee to run commercials for them or against their opposition? All exposure to the candidate would have to be through interviews, debates, personal appearances and positive (not negative) newspaper ads.

Campaigns would be cheaper. We would actually have an opportunity to really get to know the candidates. Abraham Lincoln won his support for president with a whistle stop campaign waged from the back of a train. With today's political situation he could not get by the primary: not enough money, sloppy dresser, and definitely not a good looker. Sad commentary. Instead we get a George W. Bush - nicely packaged up by an advertising company to look like what it wasn't.

The President of the United States brought to you by those wonderful men of Madison Avenue. The same one that brought you feminine deodorant and the New Coke. Real winners.