Campaign follies; What's a poor voter to do?
Campaign follies? campaign ethics? WHAT campaign ethics?
We just shrug our shoulders, "that's politics; politicians lie." We chortle at the more outrageous excesses. The bigger the whopper, the more we are entertained. But alas, they keep doing it because it works.
So we have the egregious nonsense hurled on TV at the Republican candidate for attorney general. You'd think that, in a state where so many veterans come to retire, Democrats would know better than to attack someone with stupidly obvious distortions of his service record. You really have to be a very low information voter to be impressed by that stuff.
We have a professor, recently married to a present state wide office holder now running for another state wide office, using UNR resources to contact former students to urge them to vote, all the while singing the praises of the spouse the candidate, with just the right amount of winking and wiggling to make it look legal. You have to be an academic not to see through that one. Will the secretary of state investigate?
We have a candidate for the legislature who's been portrayed as a conservative's conservative in the primaries and is now reborn as a mild mannered moderate for all the people in the general elections. Good thing the flier comes with pictures, otherwise you sure wouldn't think it's the same candidate.
We have any number of candidates, both incumbents and challengers, who are afraid to go on record on any issue, out of fear of losing votes if they say anything but bromides. It's better to look like you're going to "represent all the people," not your loony fringe base. That will sure help people make up their minds.
What if the only qualification for office were to be a statesman, not a politician?
What if public service were just that, short-term service, not a life long career with life long perks and benefits?
What if campaign claims had to be verifiably true and sincere, not malicious?
What if candidates proudly proclaimed what they are FOR and what they are AGAINST, and explained why?
I know, I know. When pigs fly and cows jump over the moon.
- attack
- attack ads
- attorney
- campaign
- campaign ads
- candidate
- Career
- Conservative
- democrats
- elections
- false advertising
- help
- information
- Legal
- life
- moon
- Opinion
- Pictures
- Politics
- public
- Public Service
- Republican
- running
- Secretary of State
- service
- singing
- state
- students
- UNR
- use of public property for political purposes
- veterans
- vote
- Legislature