Political Advertising AKA Harrassment!

I have had it with all the election campaign ads. You can’t watch TV for 5 minutes without seeing at least two of them telling you how rotten this candidate is or how horrible their voting record is or how much money they lost the state pension fund. I’m not a state employee so that last one has no bearing on me but my wife is, so I guess indirectly it affects us. But I digress. I am so sick of the attack ads. Why can’t you just tell me why I should vote for you?

Could it be that your campaign is so lame that you don’t think you are good enough to win without telling me why I shouldn’t vote for your opponent? Stop trying to make yourself look good by making the opponent look bad. If you can’t beat him or her on the issues, then maybe neither of you should be elected. I swear that in our state and local elections right now, all the candidates are crooks if you believe all the ads on TV. You can’t throw a nuclear bomb and hit a decent, respectable, honest, and not scandal tainted person running for office if the ads are true. Everyone of them represents special interest groups, have done some shady dealings in their business or political lives, and only look out for the other guys whoever they may be. I know more about the so called indiscretions than I do about why they really want to be elected in the first place. Who would want to submit themselves to this kind of mud slinging at all?

That doesn’t count the numerous pieces of junk mail I have gotten over the last few weeks. Those who claim to be environmentally conscious have contributed to some serious deforestation during this election season. But I guess it will keep the paper mills and the postal service running for a few more weeks as well as the printers and shippers, so it might be worth it. The worst part of all these mailings is that they too only feature what’s wrong with the other candidate or why I shouldn’t vote one way for an amendment. When are we going to get someone who just runs a positive campaign and says “No” to fighting fire with fire? I think I would elect someone who I disagreed with on the issues if they would just be honest enough to say what they really wanted to do and why they wanted to be elected and never said a bad word about their opponent. If you send me something in the mail, why not tell me why I should elect you and what you plan to do when I elect you.

Finally, I am perhaps most annoyed by the computerized phone messages being left daily on my answering machine at home. I hate to tell you, but getting a computerized call from Mitt Romney doesn’t mean a thing to me to get me to vote for you or from Barack Obama for that matter. I don’t care who you know or who wants me to vote for you, if they can’t take the time to call me directly, then I don’t think they really care that much that you get elected. Get all your celebrity friends to all sit down one night and give me a personal call. If I’m not there or don’t answer, have them prove that they were really calling my number if you want to impress me. I know, some of you will say there’s no way they could take that much time and this just makes it easier. I’m not looking for easy. If I have to check all those calls in the off chance that one of them is really important, then they could take the time to make a personal call in the off chance that I might actually give a darn and answer the phone!

I’m going to vote. I am going to examine the candidates and the issues and vote with a Biblical and Morally sound platform. I’m sure that the ads sway a few people, but not this guy. I’ve never voted for anyone or anything just because I have seen more signs or loved the cards in the mail and I don’t think I’ll start this year. I’ll just keep wishing for someone who would take the 70 million dollars spent on advertising and promise to cut the deficit by that amount if they are elected or at least use the remaining money to do something good for people whether they are elected or not. That amount is what Charlie Crist spent on advertising time alone in the election for Governor. It also makes me wonder what promises have to be kept by those who are elected just to pay back the money to bombard our lives with negative TV, print, and phone messages. But I guess that it’s just me that has those feelings!