Campaign Reform

Another national election is on the horizon. The television advertisements are one of the most noticeable things about this time. This is probably the only way that most people see or hear anything from the candidates. Unfortunately, this method of message delivery can be very misleading. The Bob Casey vs. Rick Santorum Senate race in Pennsylvania has gained national attention on such outlets such as National Public Radio. Since I live in Pennsylvania I am right in the middle of it. Honestly, I have not seen anything meaningful or coherent come from the TV ads that I have seen. How can you deliver anything meaningful that has any depth in the time span of the average TV commercial?

In recent years there has been a lot of focus on getting more people out to vote. Typically this means making it easer to register. Do we really want the votes of people who only do it because it is easier? Do we want the votes of people whose only knowledge about the candidates is what they have seen in TV commercials?

This is what I propose: 1.) Eliminate political television commercials, 2.) Have candidates draft a 1 to 2 page statement of their agenda to be published in an election booklet and make it available on request through the postal service, 3.) Only registered voters who have requested the booklet can vote, and 4.) Candidates cannot advertise in print, television, radio, or Internet (but can have an official website) but can only make mass media appearances in public, interviewed on newscasts, or in debates.

My main point here is that if we want good leadership we need to raise the bar not on the candidates but on ourselves. We only have ourselves to blame for poor leadership. The only way to improve the political situation in America is to have an educated public that has a deeper understanding beyond the 30-second sound bite. Candidates don’t vote themselves into office. To have outstanding leadership we need to be leaders ourselves and take responsibility for being informed on the issues when we vote. So rather than reducing the depth of politics for the attention span of a multitasking, MTV generation we as citizens need to be responsible when deciding on the future of this nation.