My Sixth Rave - Political Advertisements

            There are a lot of things to love about this time of the year.  The weather is turning, with that chill in the air that lets you get out your sweaters, fire up the fire place, maybe a cup of cocoa. The leaves are beautiful (as long as they are still on the trees). My SF Giants are ahead 3-1 in the World Series (I'm waiting for the first pitch on [hopefully] the final game, as I write this.

            That being said, there is something very loathsome in the air right now.  That, my friends, is the election.  The political advertisements are nauseating.  I would like, in my heart to say that any candidate who slings mud should be banned in my mind.  This creates a huge turmoil for me here in Washington State.

            My candidate for Senator has been slinging mud like we’re building an adobe house.  The opponent is, imho, a vile person and not worth considering. So, it was with a heavy heart that I selected my candidate (we have all mail-in voting in WA).

            The same can be said with the advertisements for the ballot initiatives.  The lies that they tell on these commercials, not to mention the obfuscation, make it absolutely impossible to know what to do about these initiatives.

             Then there are the people behind the ads.  Some people are upfront about who they are, but there are some organizations sponsoring commercials that no-one has ever heard of. If one pulls the string, one finds a shell corporation over a dummy company over another shell, etc. and it takes myriad searching to find out who is really behind the ads themselves.

            I would love, for just one campaign, to have the candidates pledge to only tell me why they are qualified for the job.  What is their background? What will they do to fix the problems in Washington DC and throughout the country and our fractured world?  I don’t want to hear what they think of their opponent. I can guess that! They probably think their opponent is some slime that crawled out of the sewer drain.  Who CARES?!?!

            Tell me why I should vote for you or your initiative, in plain, straight talk. No political speak. No circular logic. Certainly no mud.  Just tell me why you are the best thing since sliced bread.  If you do that, you might not get my vote because I don’t agree with your platform, but at least I can intelligently choose whom to vote for, and I’ll have your respect.

            Remember the Golden Rule (and not the one in DC – “He who has the gold makes the rules”). I’m talking about the one that says don’t do to others what you don’t want them doing to you.  Speak positively.  Then perhaps we can have some real, honest debate, and the voters might actually turn out to vote.

            May the best candidates (not the ones with the biggest war chests) win the election tomorrow, and may our country see only improvement over these next two years.