The Tone and Tactics of Change in Politics

The disappointing tone of this election year makes the job of voters much more difficult in making decisions on candidates.

This week nominees, and in some cases elected office holders, were selected in Tuesday’s Primary Election.

There were a lot of candidates and many decisions for us to make. We tried to do our part in bringing you the candidates that would make the time to come in on the show and share their visions for how your government should operate. As voters we have made that call and will now turn our attention to the General Election on November 4th. Given how some of this went, I am almost surprised that the electorate was able to make the call. And maybe we didn’t do that so well. As I write this, I have no idea.

Note: This INSIDER column was written over the weekend prior to the Tuesday Primary, before the vote was taken and the results were known.

As this political season has progressed I have become increasingly disappointed in the tone of the campaigns. Information is often sketchy and allegations from one camp to another are seldom straightforward and attributable to the candidate making the claim. Surrogates with phone calls to the show, letters to the editor and commentary on the internet have changed the complexion of the campaign and I don’t think it is necessarily for the better.

I believe our job as voters has become more difficult by the campaigning (that is ostensibly designed to give you the necessary information for deciding which candidate would be the best choice) and the tone it has taken on this year. The information stream is changing. Time was that newspapers, radio and TV were the primary sources for voters to learn about candidates and their positions. That is still true today, but the tone and tactics of the campaigns have taken an interesting turn as the internet has become a tool, and maybe even a weapon, in the modern political campaign. I am not sure that, in spite of our best efforts, we had the opportunity to really get into the nuts and bolts of each office. I am also not sure that much of that was not intentional on the part of the campaigns.

Compound that problem with elitist candidates that believe all they have to do is get their names on the ballot (and then be placed in office by acclimation) that addressing the issues of the campaign becomes unimportant to them and you have a mix that makes the job of the voter even more difficult. Avoiding discussion in our forum (and others) has become a tactic of the weak candidate and one that should be punished severely by the voting public.

There has been deception, misdirection, negative tones and slick presentations that have done little to add to the debate. While some candidates are using their web sites well and are clearly defining their positions and plans, some served primarily to present the opponent as some kind of evil entity to be avoided at all costs. And then there is the “life of its own” aspect of the BLOGS.

In addition to candidates using poor tactics and taking the debate to new lows (see STUPID CAMPAIGN TRICKS in the Micktionary), campaign workers and supporters have taken to the anonymous protection of the blogs on various forums that are available and are talking these races without the accountability that should be there for serious debate. When you can allege anything and state “facts” that are not necessarily facts and then use them to undermine an opponent or to bolster a chosen candidate with no accountability or citing of credible sources, the debate, the real truth of the campaign and we the voters become the victims.

I yearn for honesty and a debate on the merit of the issues. It seems we get spin and promises and shots at the other guy with no real focus of a candidate’s view of the problems we face and the solutions the candidate hopes to being forth. Maybe now that the primary is over we can actually have some of that. It is what I will strive for in our interviews and what I will ask of each of them that come in to share some of your valuable time each morning. Let’s hope we can get through the fog of deception and misinformation and get to the issues at hand.

As for the bloggers…I am afraid it is something that will be there and that we will have to read and evaluate on the merits or avoid entirely because the value is diminished by those that have less respect for the process than they should. Again it falls to us to be astute observers of the news and information surrounding the campaigns and then apply our own sniff test to see just what is important and which candidates are laying it out there honestly and with the right intentions.

This has not been a positive change thus far in the political process. It is up to us to turn it around and demand accurate and verifiable information from these candidates and their supporters that would ask us to believe in them and what they claim they can do to make it better. We need to call BS when we see the deception or hear the lie and then to ask why that was necessary if the facts did not back up the presentation. We need to stand tall and tell them we are not going to take it lying down. We need to demand respect from the candidates, the supporters and bloggers and challenge them when something is just not right. It is we the voters that deserve that respect. If we don’t get it, then they don‘t get our votes.

The system won’t change until we demand it. It is time we realize the power that we have and use it to our advantage and to that of the system itself. It is time we said that only the serious and able candidate need apply and we will only tolerate those that adhere to our standards. We have settled for less than that for far too long and it is time to do something about it. Here’s to making the stand with you every day. Good luck to us!