November 29, 2007
The Facts
Last night CNN aired a 1-hour program with Campbell Brown entitled “Broken Government: Campaign Killers”. The substance of the program was about campaign ads that are put together with the sole purpose of making candidates look bad. Campbell Brown focused primarily on two independent organizations that are for hire to put these kinds of ads together; Moveon.org, a Democratic Party supporter, and Citizens United, a Republican Party Supporter. Another hired gun company in mention was “Stop Hillary Now”. All three of these organizations are experts in this matter.
My View
Using truths and/or facts in that form is not a consideration in the making of these ads; in fact, they go to great lengths to distort the truth & facts. Furthermore, the visuals they use are deliberately & intentionally distorted. You might could questions these facts if these policies were stated by a CNN reporter. But they weren’t; rather they were acknowledged by the ones who make these ads.
These ads are called “campaign killers” for a reason; the absolute objective is to destroy a candidate and get rid of them. No competition, no problems. There are plenty of past examples of how well this works. We older citizens will remember some of these. The fact that these ads are made and that candidates are willing to use them leave no debatable questions as to the offending parties values; “the end justifies the means”. So this leave this question; if a candidate is willing to use these kind of tactics to get elected President of the United States, what will they be willing to do to us and our country once they are in office? Are they suddenly going to adopt morals, honesty and integrity? If a person has no integrity and is dishonest & immoral, that is what they will always be, except in extremely rare cases. And I am not willing to take that chance. So my personal policy is to not vote for any candidate that uses these ads.
What’s so shocking is that many of us are so gullible as to believe these ads and will not question them. The fact that we don’t, regardless of our reasons, says a lot about us. Are we as dishonest & immoral as they are, and without integrity? There can only be one answer; yes. These kinds of attitudes, and the acceptance of these attitudes, could be used as a blueprint on how to bring down a democracy. When this happens to our country, and it will, it certainly will not be the first time these attitudes has destroyed a nation. The reason it keeps happening is the leaders and organizations that resort to this type of actions actually believe they are so powerful that they can’t be touched. But just because our leaders have adopted the policy of “the ends justify the means” does not mean that we as individuals should adopt that policy.
There was one thing in the CNN report that really impressed me. It gave me a slight glimmer of hope for our country. President George Herbert Walker Bush (Sr.) was shown making a statement during his campaign for the presidency. He was addressing the use of these kinds of ads, and he left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he did not approve of these tactics at all. In fact, you could see the rage in his face, & hear it in his voice, for anyone that would resort to these tactics. Kind of make you wonder what happened to junior, doesn’t it?
expatbrian
// Nov 30, 2007 at 2:34 AM
I’ll bite once more. You nailed it when you said, are we so gullible. Yes. Americans are the most gullible people on the planet. We believe all those ads, that’s why the candidates use them. The candidates know they don’t have to tell the truth because we never hold them to it anyway.
Campaign promises can be empty because we never demand they be kept. When they are not, instead of us demanding impeachment or voting the bastard out of office, we listen to and believe a new set of lies that expain why they could not keep the promise. Or, they just deny they ever made it in the first place.
The answer is not to avoid voting. The answer is for Americans to get off their dead asses, get out from in front of the tube watching Simpsons and American Idol, and take responsibility for the behavior and direction of their government like they are supposed to.
A government “of the people, by the people….” does not mean you elect some jerks and then hope they do what you want and what they said they would. It means you monitor them and demand they uphold their agreements.
Don’t blame politicians for your failed government or the way they behave. Blame yourselves. You have taught them over and over again that they can even get away with murder and you won’t do anything about it. They are like little kids who shoplift and whose parents, instead of punishing them, pretend they didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t do that and then complain when that kid steals again or steals something bigger.
Old-Man
// Nov 30, 2007 at 7:52 AM
Expatbrian first let me say “thank you” for all your comments, but most of all for helping me and others tell people to get out there and VOTE! You, I, and others like us know that we will never get a candidate that is going to stand for every single thing we feel is right, but the idea is to shut out the ones that are blatantly against the majority of American citizen’s wishes. In many of my post I am telling people to use what ever legal means they have to get the word out to these yahoos; internet, email, letters, phone calls, AND their vote. I get so depressed when, after an election, I hear about the percentage of registered voters who actually voted. I just feel those who don’t vote do not realize how close we are to loosing this country. Then, as you said, after the election, monitor them for what they are doing and not doing; not to defend them just because they’re “your man”. And when they are failing, bombard them with your disappointment. But most of just want to just sit back and complain, just as you suggested. Again, thanks for your comment.
Responding in depth to reader’s comments is something that I told myself I would not be doing, but I just could not help myself with your comments. Let’s go get’em!