Politics

[dreamflower]

Political opinion behind the cut. You have been warned.

OK, it's getting to that point in time when we are being bombarded by political ads. Your mileage may vary in whatever part of the world or country you are in, and clearly you may disagree with my position. If so, just click the back button.

But a word for people running for office in my part of the country.

"Conservative" does not equal "good".
"Liberal" does not equal "bad".
(And the other way round as well, though that does not seem to be a problem here.)
Being deliberately obstructive does not commend you to me.
Supporting the president is not wrong.
Slamming the president does not impress me.
Bragging about being against health care reform will not get my vote.
Bragging about being against financial reform will not get my vote.
Being negative about other candidates will automatically lose my vote.
Showing me your perfect family, or your cute grandkids is not the best use of your campaign money.

On the other hand,

Telling me what you hope to actually accomplish if you are elected, and explaining how you hope to accomplish it does impress me, and I will be glad to lend you my support.

So far, there is only ONE person running for ANY office in this state who has done that, so she will get my vote. I may just skip over everyone else on the ballot.

I know better than to think any of these people care what I think. I have only one vote, and I am in a distinct minority in these parts. But there it is.

Comments

[shirebound]

Telling me what you hope to actually accomplish if you are elected, and explaining how you hope to accomplish it does impress me.

After all these years, I still can't imagine why more candidates don't know that.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

You said it good!

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

There is this culture of negativity in politics now that is so depressing. You are so right in what you say!

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

You are so right! When I see lots of negative ads, it automatically turns me off that candidate, no matter what side of the fence he/she is on!

[addie71.livejournal.com]

You've said it well.

[gamgeefest.livejournal.com]

This is the reason why I rarely vote for canditates. They all just slam each other. Even if I agree with them on politics, if they're running a slam compaign, they're not getting my vote.

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

I think this is going to be one of the most maddening election seasons ever. Honestly, it's like Middle School out there; I have never in my life seen anything like it. Even in the 60s and 70s people had more integrity and a more innate understanding of honor and statesmanship.

It's about the same here in the NW as there where you are; although I will be blunt and say there is definitely more mean-spiritedness and deliberate obfuscation on the Right. The depressing thing is that on the Left we have a bunch of Players--people who have been in the House and Senate for YEARS and have long since lost the passion and clear-eyed vision that brought them there to begin with. We have them to thank for watered-down reform.

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more! Skirting around the political issues to brag or boost or step on others is just not the way to make things work. Mostly it's empty promises what any politician say, but sometimes, on occasion, something good actually happens and that's what we want to see, so you vote for your one candidate that makes any sense and I hope she'll get elected.

*hugs*

[nixnivis.livejournal.com]

We've got a general election coming up in September.

We generally don't do political ads here, but there are a lot of tv and radio debates, and they have become more and more about slandering the other side than they are about talking about one's own politics. It bugs my socks off when somebody, be it a candidate or a party, only talks about what their opponent hasn't accomplished, won't accomplish if they're elected, hasn't promised or has promised but won't be able to pull off. I don't care about what you think the other side hasn't, will or won't do, I want to hear what YOU will or won't do!

I'm firmly rooted in my political beliefs, so my party being slandered won't get me to change my vote, but which candidate I vote for (here we don't vote for candidates per se; you vote for a party, but you can - but don't have to - also vote for a specific person on that party's list as your for Parliament and the municipality/county council) depends on what he or she says that he/she wants to accomplish and will be working for - NOT what they say that the other side won't accomplish or work for.

[dreamflower]

Our state has elections for both state and national offices coming up in November. Governer for the state, and congressional representatives for both state and national legislatures. Here all votes are for individuals, but where I am living now is almost solidly Republican. I'll be voting for the person I think best, regardless of party, but the truth is that the ones I favor are highly unlikely to get elected here.

I *wish* we didn't have the ads. Over here anyone with the money can run political ads and we are being bombarded with them-- some of them are not even approved by the person they are supposed to be supporting.

It seems that the most common tactic here is to say as loudly as possible "I am a CONSERVATIVE!! I will keep those EVIL LIBERALS in Washington from DOING ANYTHING!!! If you elect me I will see to it that NOTHING GETS DONE!!!!" Sadly, it works.

[nixnivis.livejournal.com]

At least that's a tactic that wouldn't work here. If somebody tried to get elected by saying that they're say, a SOCIAL DEMOCRAT that will stop those EVIL RIGHT-WINGERS* in Stockholm from DOING ANYTHING, people would just point and laugh (and their party would back away slooowly before yanking them off whatever list they were on). But sadly, many do seem to fall for the "the other side won't do/haven't done this OMG DISASTER!!" lines. :-/

We do Parliament, county council and municipality council at the same time. No Governors around here, though - and no President either. :-)

[dreamflower]

Well, saying that the other side is to blame for all our ills is also a common tactic. It's only been since President Obama was elected that the Republicans have come out as deliberately obstructive- and scarily enough, in the particular part of the country where I live (Oklahoma) it seems to be working.

I'm very sick of ads that say "Send ME to Washington and I will put a stop to the EVIL political agenda of Obama and Pelosi and those horrible Democrats! I am a Christian Conserative and I will keep them from doing ANYTHING ELSE!"

I blame Sarah Palin and the so-called "Tea Party" for a lot of it. It's the kind of thing that regular Republicans would have repudiated a few years back, and now are afraid to go against.

I completely agree with you...

[tracey-claybon.livejournal.com]

What you said about politics - completely sensible... I REALLY wish more politicians - from both sides - would both talk about AND do more to actually accomplish something positive for all of us in the country [conservative and liberal] - instead of telling us why we shouldn't vote for their opponent. I also wish the conservative pols here would grow more compassion and the liberal pols would grow common sense and a spine in the States.

I also wish that they worked for the good of the country as a whole rather than to get their side elected every time. I vote - but I enjoy it less each year.

Re: I completely agree with you...

[dreamflower]

It's become so polarized and divided that it even frustrates the politicians themselves. Yesterday a Congressman completely lost it at the whole thing, and went into a furious rant, because he was so upset at what is happening-- all he wanted to do is get to vote on a perfectly good piece of legislation dealing with health-care for the first responders at 9/11. It will probably pass eventually, but is constantly being held up by members of the other party. It was kind of scary watching him screaming and red in the face, but kind of encouraging, too, to know that some of the legislators do still care about doing their jobs and not just *keeping* their jobs.