Who Can You Trust?
There is almost nothing you can believe on face value anymore. Aside from personal relationships and direct conversations with people you know, it must be taken that anything your hear or read is filtered, indirect, deliberately misleading, or manipulative.
One would think that with the vastness of the United States, that each of the 435 folks elected to Congress would provide a lively discussion of all sorts of issues affecting 300 million folks who they represent. But oddly, at least as depicted on the news, they have neatly divided themselves into two groups pitted against each other, as if life itself depended on it. One single vote falling out of place is a disaster, a sudden toppling of the precarious balance of power which must be maintained at all cost.
When I was young, the national political conventions convened to settle upon the party's presidential candidate. Votes were taken, loyalty pledged, and thru a process of give and take, determination or acceptance, the dynamic of the convention settled upon one person to whom support would be given. It was interesting. And when it was over, one could understand why that person was selected, what their position was on issues, and the underlying platform of party postions the candidate would support.
Not so anymore. The primary elections are now being held more than a year before the conventions. And more states are moving the primaries forward. It is said that the states are doing this in order to be equally influential in determining who the presidential candidate will be. I don't think so.
He who has the most money wins, and the most money will be gathered by the early front runner. The early front runner with the most money will dominate the political advertising. A voter will not have much chance before the primaries to decide who is most best. And once all those early primaries are over, there is not much chance for any other candidate to expose themselves thru the remaining primary process. Its over. The national conventions mean nothing. Not only do the conventions means nothing, but nothing will have been said truthfully about what the candidate stands for.
One would think that with the vastness of the United States, that each of the 435 folks elected to Congress would provide a lively discussion of all sorts of issues affecting 300 million folks who they represent. But oddly, at least as depicted on the news, they have neatly divided themselves into two groups pitted against each other, as if life itself depended on it. One single vote falling out of place is a disaster, a sudden toppling of the precarious balance of power which must be maintained at all cost.
When I was young, the national political conventions convened to settle upon the party's presidential candidate. Votes were taken, loyalty pledged, and thru a process of give and take, determination or acceptance, the dynamic of the convention settled upon one person to whom support would be given. It was interesting. And when it was over, one could understand why that person was selected, what their position was on issues, and the underlying platform of party postions the candidate would support.
Not so anymore. The primary elections are now being held more than a year before the conventions. And more states are moving the primaries forward. It is said that the states are doing this in order to be equally influential in determining who the presidential candidate will be. I don't think so.
He who has the most money wins, and the most money will be gathered by the early front runner. The early front runner with the most money will dominate the political advertising. A voter will not have much chance before the primaries to decide who is most best. And once all those early primaries are over, there is not much chance for any other candidate to expose themselves thru the remaining primary process. Its over. The national conventions mean nothing. Not only do the conventions means nothing, but nothing will have been said truthfully about what the candidate stands for.
posted by mike at 2:23 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for writing this.
Post a Comment
<< Home