How Will I Know If The Best Man Wins?

“Ours is a problem in which deception has become organized and strong; where truth is poisoned at it’s source; one in which the skill of the shrewdest brains is devoted to misleading a bewildered people”
Walter Lippmann
1889-1974

It’s a matter of perspective I guess.  Either Walter was ahead of his time or we are behind ours.  I suspect the latter. It seems that history is not the only thing that repeats itself.  We tend to do it too, always expecting something different to happen.

I sit here watching the political commercials with a mix of amusement and chagrin.  In the beginning, everyone swears they are going to take the high road, but apparently, it is still under construction, because they quickly detour over to a “dirt” road where mud is the norm.

We are what?  Maybe about five weeks before the midterm elections.  So far, I have yet to see one commercial in which actual positions are stated.  Most are hit jobs on their opponent.  The rest are merely platitudes telling us what a nice guy/woman the candidate is.  Here is some of what they are pitching.  I’ll bet, wherever you live, it will sound familiar

Her father ran a business all his life.  She knows what hard work is.  Humm.  Let me think about that.  I guess it is because she watched him?

He is one of us.  He won’t forget where he came from.  Let’s hope not.  Could prove to be very embarrassing if he ever wants to come home.

He will look out for the working class.  Since that would include him, I guess you are at least partially right.

He’s on our side.  OK.  Of what?   He hasn’t told us what he thinks or stands for and I have not idea what side you are on.

She will bring change to Washington.  If you say so.  Given the current atmosphere, I would hedge my bets if we were talking about the Messiah.

But the one’s that intrigue me the most are the ones that want you to elect a party instead of a person.

The commercial opens with an old farmer looking guy that I will call Charlie, saying “I like Senator XYZ and I have voted for her.  However, lately, she has been voting too Republican”.  OK Charlie.  You may find this enlightening.  She Is A Republican!!  I don’t know why he finds that so hard to understand.

Another shows a woman with a worried look on her face saying, I’ve always  voted for Senator XYZ, but to do so now could mean the Republicans will win the Senate.  Wow.  Isn’t it a shame that we are willing to cast out a few good congressmen (generally perceived to be an oxymoron) because of their party instead of replacing the deadbeats regardless of party.  And we wonder why nothing gets done.  Or maybe we don’t.  Perhaps that is the real problem.

So, I guess I will go to the polls again this year, and vote for one of the persons I have been told I can vote for (independents don’t get to participate in primaries in my state) given what little information I have about their positions.  I do know a little more about the incumbents because they have either been constantly championed or cut off at the knees for the last six months in the media. But then again, do I really know more about them.  All the hype has been generated by, you guessed it, their opponent.

 I think Charles Krauthammer said it best: “Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country — and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians”