Congrats to President Obama on winning the election and moving us forward for another four years. I think we are heading in the right direction. And this is my first, last, and only political post of this election season. I have a few issues with our election process though, and some of those shone through this particularly nasty campaign. Here is what I want the political system to change and how the season should go in my eyes.
1. Political Ads.
I was happy that I didn’t have cable or satellite channels in my household this year. It lessened the blow and bombardment of all the political ads. But then Hulu+ decided to let campaigns buy ad space and it was everywhere. And the ads are all attacks; based on fact and fiction. Here is what I want: I want facts and plans. The election is over, and I still don’t know what the candidate’s plans for the country were. All I know that jobs will be created and blah blah blah. I would let each candidate have an hour long spot on national television EARLY in the campaign, and again with a few weeks left. In this hour long special, they would be given the chance to outline their plans for our country. No attacks, no questions [unless the candidate allowed them], in an auditorium with a projection setup so they can given visuals to their plans. It would help inform the voters. In the second one, they would be given the same chance, this one is to amend any plans to fit the changing world politics in the time in between. I want to be informed, and I feel that as part of our right to vote, we all should be informed to choose the BEST candidate for our country.
2. Hate.
I don’t understand what it is about election time, but the hate comes out from everyone. People from different political parties are dropping hate on the other and it isn’t good. Candidates attack each other based on past votes in Congress and for being inexperienced and such. First off, we are all inexperienced at one point. We don’t all just start out with 10 years experience of being in office. Secondly, we all vote one of two ways on any given issue. Congress Member A votes for the Health Care Reform, AKA “Obamacare”. Congress Member B votes to oppose the reform. So when election time comes, the new candidate for Congress attacks the incumbent member for his/her decision. And to me, it is just spewing hate. To add to it, you try to talk to friends/co workers/family about it, and people end up in arguments. Social Media spews even more hate. I know that everyone has their opinions, and is entitled to their opinion. But there is no reason to attack another person’s opinion on said matter. Not everyone will be happy with the end result. But there are couple things we can all agree upon: We all want a better country to live in; we all know that it will get worse before it gets better; and that there is a reason that certain people are voted in to lead us.
3. Money.
I agree with Brian Williams. He stated that over 1 million political ads were aired this season. He went on to state that he wonders what medical or science breakthrough could have occurred with that money. I know that running a campaign requires full coffers. I also know that a majority of it is donated from supporters. I want to know how much money is used on political ads throughout a given season. That could be used elsewhere to help our country. Enough said.
4. “Debates”.
I don’t think that they are helpful in any way. Here is my issue with them. It just gives the candidates a nationally televised stage to attack the other. It gets heated and isn’t productive to their campaigns or to the American people. It is a hate spewing stage. Changing the debates into a question and answer format would be better. And the questions will come from the citizens from the host city. I don’t want pre-planned questions from the party officials. They can be submitted before and read to the candidates by the moderator. This can give the citizens the chance who can’t make it to the forum the chance to ask their questions and/or air their grievances.
5. History.
The call for change every election is based upon the incumbent president’s four years in office. But that shouldn’t be the case. The president’s performance should be based on where we were in the years before their term. People seem to forget about the state of things before their 4 years of running our great nation. And don’t just base it on gas prices either, people. Gas prices have steadily risen since gas stations and gas companies were started. The cost of living has risen. So these things shouldn’t be the basis of this. We should be informed on unemployment, job creation, national debt, taxes, and other factors that affect every person in this nation.
I could go on, but this is my 5 point list of politics. We could change the way we look at politics. And in this, we need to change the way we vote. Our voting system needs to be modernized. Polls in Ohio ran out of paper ballots. Seriously? We have needed to modernize the system since the “Hanging Chad” incident in Florida. We have the technology to do so. Gas stations swipe our driver’s license or state id card if we want to buy cigarettes or beer. Why can’t we implement this at the polls? Swipe the ID, your info pops up on the screen and we are given our booth to cast our vote. In the booth, instead of the old book with the punch tool, we see a touch screen. He we have photos of the candidates along with their names, party, years in office, and other info. The placement should be that the photos are on polar opposites of the screen. We touch the candidate’s photo to cast our vote. The polar placement makes it impossible to accidently touch the other candidate’s photo. Data is easily encrypted and the votes could be automatically updated to a county server, which then uploads them to a statewide server set in the capital when the polls close. This would give us a faster and much more accurate count. Let’s move ourselves into the future with technology that we already have in our lives. It might be a little expensive to implement, but it help prevent fiascos like the one of running out of paper.
This ends my one and only political post and talk from this election season.
