Little return for the money

Finally, we are getting near the end of this millionaires love fest.

The race for presidential office broke new ground this time around by starting so long before the actual finish line. Do you realize that we will have been listening and watching these candidates beg for our vote for over two years by the time election day gets here? At no other time in our lives are we citizens made to feel that we have power, that we have an actual say in how this country will behave in the future. And we savor every moment of it, perhaps because of the infrequency of it. Even though, after all is said and done, we know we don’t really have a say in any of it.

Our votes can be discounted, look at Florida’s hanging-chad debacle. The Supreme Court decided that year who should be president, not the people. Even when after a person becomes president and they get behind those stately closed doors, the reality of the way the world really works restricts and redirects even the most sincere of intentions of ‘doing the right thing’. And when is the last time a politician actually ‘did the right thing’ without some ulterior motive? Make no mistake, campaign promises are used only to get your vote. The underhanded games and the evil that men do have been a reality of politics for far too long to believe the good of any man can survive in the deep end of the pool of political reality.

Some candidates talk celebrities into being seen with them supposedly to bolster their position as a ‘friend to the people’.

Some hold around the clock campaign vigils for your almighty vote.

We all act as if we believe what these politicians tell us and they all act like they are sincere. They parade their family members in front of us as if this proves their sincerity.

This struggle for the ‘popular’ vote has become better than the fake ‘reality’ shows the television networks serve up. This becomes almost as good as our endless obsession to witness the latest celebrity sleaze-fest. We love watching people bare their souls. Especially if they can tell a riveting story of personal tragedy. We love watching people stumble, we love watching them fall, we love watching them throw crap at each other. We have become a nation of gossip mongers that are elevated to new heights of ecstasy each time someone slams another person, hoping for a real knock-down, drag-out, cat fight. We clamor for any bit of juicy gossip, the more bitter the better. But no one can satisfy a newspaper publishers wet dream like the latest Brittney white-trash offerings (and, oh look, her whole family is getting involved) or the latest Paris and Lindsey scandals. This is the stuff of major league gossip. Politics will never break into this realm.

I am so relieved I do not live in Iowa. The constant psycho-babble and rhetoric and glad-handing and kissing-up is shameless. This is the only time these millionaires will come out of their pampered, cushy, daily surroundings to face the very people that can make or break their future dreams. I can turn off the television in hopes of keeping the crap from flowing into my living room, but these Iowans are inundated with it on a daily basis knowing all the while that as soon as this states caucus is over Iowa will be left like a woman after a one night stand, full of promises she knows will never be kept.

Deep down I think everyone knows the BS is thickest whenever a politician speaks but when you have this many concentrated in one place outside of Washington DC, then the cows must become envious at just how quickly and deeply it can be spread by these professionals.

Does everyone just get caught up in the excitement of seeing their chosen millionaire get put into this golden throne of power? History has shown us that voter turnout is low and is getting lower every election year. It is because the majority of people know their vote does nothing to change the way these millionaires play politics. Why do these candidates spend so much time and money on something they must know will result in such low voter turnout? Besides feeding their ego I can’t think of any good reason for it.

Sure, everyone likes being patted on the back, being told what an excellent choice they would be to sit in the White House. But with such little return for this disgustingly huge amount of money spent, the same results can be obtained without these candidates ever showing up. How about just simply letting their voting record speak for them? This way we don’t have to listen to their lies, wade through endless, mindless rhetoric trying to decipher their true meanings, and they could spend more time in their office doing the job we voted them to do. Millions of dollars are shamelessly thrown at advertisers in the pursuit of votes. Money that could be put to much better use. Advertisers are the only real winners here.