iCitizenForum

Election Day gloom really 'ads' up

I pull up to my mailbox on the street each night when I get home. I sort through the mail and pitch the “junk” on the floor in front of the passenger seat. The “junk” during the past month or so almost entirely consists of expensively produced campaign literature — full color, printed on high-end stock.

It all ends up in my recycling bin at the end of the week.

I listen to the radio on the drive to and from work. Campaign ads lead to a station switch. I do not watch much television much, but when I do and a campaign ad comes on, I hit the “jump” button.

I knew about the impending media glut — well in advance of Election Day Tuesday — because it always comes this time of year.

But this year, more of it came.

One large contributor to the increased “glut” of attack ads — and very few of them escape that category — is the U.S. Supreme Court.

It struck down parts of federal campaign finance law, calling it unconstitutional based on First Amendment grounds.

The biggest argument made in defense of campaign finance reform focused on the prospect of people buying elections — corporations, unions, nonprofits and even foreign entities. The integrity of the election system hung in the balance, they argued.

They lost.

I agree wholeheartedly with their predictions of out-of-control spending by agenda pushing, partisan political types.

But I support the Supreme Court’s decision.

And I discounted the notion that the integrity of the election process hung in the balance.

As to the court, the government has no business telling people how to legally spend their money — especially when they tether that spending to the debate about public policy and governance.

As to the integrity of the election process, the electorate gave that away when it decided the best way to measure a candidates was to listen to them lie or misrepresent the truth in attack ads.

All the Supreme Court decision did — and it’s almost hard to believe this could happen — is make an awful system worse.

It is the American electorate’s job to clean up the mess — much like I clean up the pile of campaign crud on the floor of my car.

The electorate must:

• Embrace the value of elections.
• Recognize the importance of elections at all levels.
• Ignore the stump speeches, the attack ads and the 10-second sound bytes that television calls news.
• Use the resources that sit at its fingertips and try to find the truth about candidates, their positions and where they get their money.
• Consider with an open mind alternative positions to the all-too-quickly-assumed “party line.”
• Ask questions and independently seek answers.

Too much work?

Then feast on the attack ads, the doubletalk of the TV talking heads and generic campaign news coverage that reports on polls and ignores issues.

And then suffer the political indigestion that comes with a bad civic diet.

You are what you eat.

Resources:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/31/...
• http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/...
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/...
• http://www.salon.com/news/...
• http://www.opensecrets.org/
• http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101029/...

6 Comments