Decius wrote:

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

America = EPIC FAIL

Decius wrote:

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

It's ALWAYS been about Marketing...

If you haven't seen this little known 1986 movie, starring a young Richard Gere, I suggest you rent/buy/or download your own copy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091786/

This movie shows exactly how people are elected. From the viewpoint of the "Political Consultant", (aka Marketing expert), who works for the highest bidder.

The reason I have great distain for the Electoral process in this country, is that it doesn't mean anything. We cast our votes, they're pushed to the Electoral College votes, diluted, and in either case, we've been fed a bunch of B.S. prior to casting our vote, that has NOTHING to do with the real reasons these people seek power.

For those of you who trust these candidates to do their jobs, I pity you. Either way, We the People lose.

dc0de wrote:

Decius wrote:

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

It's ALWAYS been about Marketing...

If you haven't seen this little known 1986 movie, starring a young Richard Gere, I suggest you rent/buy/or download your own copy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091786/

This movie shows exactly how people are elected. From the viewpoint of the "Political Consultant", (aka Marketing expert), who works for the highest bidder.

The reason I have great distain for the Electoral process in this country, is that it doesn't mean anything. We cast our votes, they're pushed to the Electoral College votes, diluted, and in either case, we've been fed a bunch of B.S. prior to casting our vote, that has NOTHING to do with the real reasons these people seek power.

For those of you who trust these candidates to do their jobs, I pity you. Either way, We the People lose.

Two things, first I love the soundtrack for the movie, you just can't beat Gene Krupa playing drums for the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Second, as someone running for a state house seat, it doesn't work that way at this level at all. Down here, it's knocking on doors and talking to people because you're not getting on TV, and radio is really expensive. Maybe you can do some print advertising, but more than that?

I can also note something about why people want the job. In my case, a lot of it is simple anger. I can't believe how badly the people over in the capitol have screwed things up. If you make 5k a year, you make too much to get covered under medicaid. School funding has decreased even though all the casino tax money is earmarked for school funding (they cut the general fund more than the casinos bring in). The governor destroyed records violating the law, but the state house is ignoring it. Police can't collectively bargain for health insurance. All of that is just stupid, I want to change things to deal with that. One of the other people I know running looked up and said, "I can do better than that guy!"

So yes, you do get some schmucks who run, but the folks I'm dealing with daily aren't, we're trying to get them out.

Mike the Usurper wrote:
So yes, you do get some schmucks who run, but the folks I'm dealing with daily aren't, we're trying to get them out.

The problem is that the system wasn't designed to "check and balance" the corrosive influence of lobby money. In order for people to run campaigns, at any level, they have to raise money. The bigger the purse, the more special interests and peddled influence creeps into their platforms and the more constrained they get about what they can actually accomplish while in office. Even if you campaign on a "grass roots" effort of "change" and "reform", you're still competing with someone who is going to take the money and the structure behind it that wants to keep the status quo. I don't see how this can be changed or altered. As it is now, even at local political levels (and all politics is local, that's not just a saying) there's basically just a fleecing of the future going on.

flynn23 wrote:

Mike the Usurper wrote:
So yes, you do get some schmucks who run, but the folks I'm dealing with daily aren't, we're trying to get them out.

The problem is that the system wasn't designed to "check and balance" the corrosive influence of lobby money. In order for people to run campaigns, at any level, they have to raise money. The bigger the purse, the more special interests and peddled influence creeps into their platforms and the more constrained they get about what they can actually accomplish while in office. Even if you campaign on a "grass roots" effort of "change" and "reform", you're still competing with someone who is going to take the money and the structure behind it that wants to keep the status quo. I don't see how this can be changed or altered. As it is now, even at local political levels (and all politics is local, that's not just a saying) there's basically just a fleecing of the future going on.

As much as I hate to say it, I think you're pretty right with this one. I also think there's a second problem. To a huge level, the political system rewards the corrupt, and so we get people who aren't what we actually need, i.e. not corrupt. That's true in not just the major parties, but all of them. You also get members of the tinfoil hat brigade showing up with staggering regularity.

Frankly, I got sick of being lied to and screwed, and decided to step up to the plate.