When I am King, I am going to make some procedural changes. First we are going to have one national primary that will be held over the 4th of July weekend. Talk about a patriotic duty. Prior to the primary, all campaign ads on TV will be limited to the midnight to 6:00 am time slot. Second, after the primary election, each presidential candidate will be limited to two hours of campaigning on TV per day. Each candidate can decide which shows he or she wants preempted - talk about pressure decisions. If you take off "The Good Wife" or "CSI", I am definitely voting for the other guy. The election will span the whole first week of November and anyone who votes gets $100 off any taxes they owe. That should get the turnout over 50% for a change.
Now I know some of you are thinking this won't be enough time to get the message out. Bull shit. I'll help you both out right now. Republicans, your message is "We Hate Obama". President Obama, your message is "They Really Fucking Hate Me!"
Now that I've helped save you all this time, how about you both get your asses moving on fixing this shitty economy.
My thoughts on election reform are similar, but probably more extreme. I would completely ban all campaign ads. Each candidate's campaign would consist entirely of unscripted televised debates with their opponents, publicly available to everyone in the constituency. I like the idea of them starting up on the Independence Day before the election. Four months is plenty of time for them to get their message out, and the improvised nature of live debates will show what they really stand for. And, since they only have to worry about campaigning during those four months, they can spend the rest of their terms actually doing their damned jobs.
ReplyDeleteMy reasoning is that the big corporations and rich assholes get the candidates they want into power by throwing money into their campaigns, particularly into advertising. Removing advertising should put everyone on more equal ground. I expect that it would also allow for more people whose families aren't already big names in the financial or political worlds to have a chance in the arena.
I agree with almost everything you say. Some where a long the line, people should accomplish something for the better good -- not just for the rich. Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeleteElections started mid summer in my memory. In 56 Ike had a lock on his party and Stevenson was likely but not certain. The contest was Kennedy vs Keefaver (sp) for Adlai's VP slot.
ReplyDeleteYou should also add that TV campaign ads have to go for the going rate, not the lowest rate the station or network charges.