A rant for the political season…
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but seeing as the time of year it is, I feel like it’s about time I said something. (Come on, we’re in an election season, you wouldn’t expect me to sit this one out, would you?)
Right now, it’s one of those magical times where we are in the process, as Americans, of selecting who will be next to lead our country. I expect most of you know my views on it (being a gun-toting right wing conservative), but my rant today will not be about who we should elect as our next president. In fact, the main theme I have for today can be summed up in one sentence.
I hate politics.
I will be overjoyed once we are through with this political season (regardless of who wins, ultimately we’re getting who we deserve either way). It used to be (long ago, before I could even vote) that campaigns were run on the issues. Now, it’s become the proverbial three-ring circus, with the media making a spectacle out of everything that doesn’t actually matter (then again, this is from the same news services that somehow think we care about what Britney Spears is doing with her life… If I wanted celebrity gossip, I have the sense to watch a celebrity gossip show, not the evening news…), and the campaigns are throwing out ads at each other that don’t focus a lick on what the issues are, but instead tell you everything that’s wrong with the other guy.
Now before all the partisans start saying the other side’s doing it, shut up. They’re BOTH doing it, and as a nation we’re hanging on their every word, treating everything that comes out of their mouths as honest to goodness truth and not questioning whether that’s even an issue worth worrying about. I’m a big fan of free speech (I am, after all, a blogger), but I am all in favor of cutting off the political campaigns and restricting them to stating their views instead of attacking their opponents. In the months leading up to this election, I feel like I’ve learned less about what each candidate’s platform is than I have what’s wrong with their opponent’s platform from campaign ads. Enough, for the love of crackers, just shut up about the other guy and focus on your platform. I don’t care what you want to twist to make the other guy look bad, we’re never going to have a truly “fact” based campaign if you spend all of your time trying to knock the other guy down. We aren’t even getting an unbiased opinion if you just state what you’re running for, but at LEAST we wouldn’t have to feel like you’re getting into a 3rd grade name-calling contest on the national stage anyone.
And news media, shame on you. We’ve always known it’s impossible to have a truly unbiased news media, but now bias isn’t even the problem, you blow EVERYTHING out of proportion and start covering it as a leadoff story when, typically, what you’re covering has little to no impact on what the campaigns are doing. McCain’s not creating controversy, Obama isn’t even creating controversy. You know who’s creating controversy? The established media outlets! If they would shut their pie-holes and go back to the good old days of Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw covering the news in a professional manner instead of turning the political season into a freak show that we feel we should be seeing on shows more like Entertainment Tonight, we might, just MIGHT, have an ethical political campaign because no one would care about anything aside from what the real issues are.
I love America. I love that we have the freedom to choose who will be leading our country. But I HATE the fact that so many Americans do it so blindly, without having any idea what they’re voting for other than the charismatic ability of a candidate to make speeches but not really present any kind of real policy. Enough is enough, can we get back to a real campaign now?
As a side note to all of this, I saw a rant from Craig Fergusson that I found particularly fitting. Enjoy!
(Warning: Slight language)