Campaign Tactics

"Why sould anyone run for political office?" is a very important question.

Glenn's perception of the political establishment, all parties, is that they act as if they are more interested in promoting and enriching themselves than in the nation's needs and its future. Some politicians have raised name calling to a level that would embarrass a school yard bully. Beyond that, the use of oversimplification and what logicians call the "complex question" make it very difficult for the electorate to determine what the important issues are.

Looking at most of the recent election campaigns, there is little to be happy about. The use of the "negative ads" in recent years is truely appaling. Glenn's sense is that most people agree with him on this issue.

The obvious followup question is, if the ads are so bad, why do politicians continue to use them? Answer: because they work! Perhaps ads that extol the virtues of a candidate are less believable, after all it's a politician and his/her/its lips are moving. Glenn thinks that the main reason negative ads are so successful is that they are, first and foremost, entertaining.

Another campaign tactic that seems questionable is telemarketing, also known as "robocalling". Glenn calls this tactic "phone spam". Often there is no human directly involved, other than the poor soul who's dinner has been interrupted. The technique is new enough to politics that it's effectivness has not been established. To be sure, there are both positive and negative phone spam. Positive messages simply identify the candidate or issue. Negative messages take several different forms. One is the is the cousin of the negative commercial, wherein the opposing candidates faults are laid out in detail. There is another version where the opposing candidates name is prominately mentioned, almost as if this were one on his ads. If you hang up as soon as you've figured out it's phone spam, you might well conclude that you've been annoyed by the opposition instead of the candidate who really paid for the ad. Very sneaky. Bordering on dishonest, as many spin oriented ads are. Unfortunately, it's as legal on church on Sunday.

Phone spam is a bit tricky to evaluate. As a voter, Glenn's counter tactic is to hang up and ignore the ad, no matter what position it appears to take. We recommend that all voters do the same.

For the nation to progress, these dubious current campaign tactics must be called to account by the voters. In turn the voters must have an opportunity to vote for candidates who attempt to identify important issues and espouse a coherent method for addressing them. For the most part, these candidates have been unsuccessful. This must change.