For your own good and for the good of our country, turn off any and all political ads that mention the opposition. Political attacks and negative campaigns are the worst possible way to make an intelligent decision about who or what to vote for. Use your TIVOs and DVRs to fast forward through them. Even if they are ads for candidates or issues you support, avoid them. Never mind that they usually contain distortions, misinformation, and downright lies. There is another, more compelling reason why we have to convince politicians that these things must stop.

 

Negative campaigns have been slowly destroying our ability to govern ourselves in an effective manner. They have been eroding our ability to identify and elect the best people for the job. Politics has become such a nasty and degrading experience that potential candidates that have the integrity and wisdom that we so sorely need, choose not to seek elective office. I don’t recall any time in the past when disgust with politics was as high as it is now.

 

There are pols who will tell you that they go negative because it works. They will cite examples of candidates taking the high road and losing. These are people who refuse to see or acknowledge the incredible damage caused by the aggregate of all their attacks.

 

For many years now, we have been told over and over what despicable bums the opposition are. We are told that some big corporation is coming to ruin our lives. We are carefully taught to mistrust and fear anything and anyone political.

 

Obviously, in a vicious negative campaign between two candidates, one will win. We have been told over and over by candidate “X” that candidate “Y” is totally unacceptable in every way and then “Y” gets elected to office. “Y’s” image amongst his supporters can even be contaminated by this process. It used to be that a nasty campaign could be largely forgotten once the election was over. The trouble is, that while specific attacks on specific candidates might be forgotten, the cumulative effect of all this mud slinging on our elected officials causes us to have less and less respect for them and decreases our confidence in their abilities.

 

Stop watching attack ads. Send this to your friends and send this to your elected officials. Don’t concern yourself whether or not anyone else heeds this advice. Take care of yourself. Don’t allow anyone to continue to poison your faith in America and its elected officials. Be patient, it will take a while to change long standing habits.

For your own good and for the good of our country, turn off any and all political ads that mention the opposition. Political attacks and negative campaigns are the worst possible way to make an intelligent decision about who or what to vote for. Use your TIVOs and DVRs to fast forward through them. Even if they are ads for candidates or issues you support, avoid them. Never mind that they usually contain distortions, misinformation, and downright lies. There is another, more compelling reason why we have to convince politicians that these things must stop.

 

Negative campaigns have been slowly destroying our ability to govern ourselves in an effective manner. They have been eroding our ability to identify and elect the best people for the job. Politics has become such a nasty and degrading experience that potential candidates that have the integrity and wisdom that we so sorely need, choose not to seek elective office. I don’t recall any time in the past when disgust with politics was as high as it is now.

 

There are pols who will tell you that they go negative because it works. They will cite examples of candidates taking the high road and losing. These are people who refuse to see or acknowledge the incredible damage caused by the aggregate of all their attacks.

 

For many years now, we have been told over and over what despicable bums the opposition are. We are told that some big corporation is coming to ruin our lives. We are carefully taught to mistrust and fear anything and anyone political.

 

Obviously, in a vicious negative campaign between two candidates, one will win. We have been told over and over by candidate “X” that candidate “Y” is totally unacceptable in every way and then “Y” gets elected to office. “Y’s” image amongst his supporters can even be contaminated by this process. It used to be that a nasty campaign could be largely forgotten once the election was over. The trouble is, that while specific attacks on specific candidates might be forgotten, the cumulative effect of all this mud slinging on our elected officials causes us to have less and less respect for them and decreases our confidence in their abilities.

 

Stop watching attack ads. Send this to your friends and send this to your elected officials. Don’t concern yourself whether or not anyone else heeds this advice. Take care of yourself. Don’t allow anyone to continue to poison your faith in America and its elected officials. Be patient, it will take a while to change long standing habits.