
I’ve launched attacks in the past on this column about how horrific, misleading and downright false far too many political ads are. Downright lies proliferate. Innuendos abound. Most ads aren’t designed to inform, but instead break the opposing candidate down, and make you – the target of the ads – feel the person being attacked is a jerk, loser, thief, criminal, dangerous.
As the ads wear you down, even the most vigilant of us start to wonder if there is a nugget of truth in all the lies. In this way they get you. Your defenses lag. Your antenna to sift through garbage turns itself off. Then, whammo, you find yourself hating someone.
The thing I remember most deeply from the day after the presidential election is how I felt bad. The relentless nature of the attacks from both candidates (and, of course, this is not limited to presidential elections) – because they are designed to make you feel bad things about the other candidate – make you feel bad yourself. You feel bad about your country. You feel bad about the direction we are taking. This leads to some of the malaise many people feel in the U.S. about the political process, our politicians, our expectations, and the general sense that no one is doing anything good.
There is a lot of good being done by a lot of people in this country. That occurs at the local, state and national levels, and includes businesses, politicians, bureaucrats, community leaders, scientist, engineers, people of faith. We don’t hear about that much though because the ads dominate our senses.
Follow the money. Those who have it inject their bucks into various campaigns. Follow the money and you follow the hate and lies.
Which in a roundabout way gets me back to today in Wisconsin where we have a state Supreme Court race being contested.
The INSTANT ads started being run (maybe six weeks ago?), they were negative. If you know nothing of the two candidates (probably true of 95 percent of the Wisconsin electorate), you would think both of the candidates were evil personified, letting rapists and killers back onto the streets with nary a thought as to the consequences.
That’s not case, as I’ve had the opportunity to see and hear both candidates speak in-person to the Milwaukee Rotary and Milwaukee Press Club. Both care about the state, care about the judiciary and respect what being a judge is all about – enforcing the law to the best of their abilities. You’ll find places you could quibble with either one. You may disagree with their perspective on an issue or align yourself politically with one or the other. That’s fair. Choose to vote on those merits.
DON’T choose to vote based on the ads assaulting you. Recently, seven ads in a row came up on the TV for one or the other candidate, before one for a plumber finally ended the string. Sigh.
We all will continue to be overwhelmed in this way. That makes it tremendously important to do your own research, read, verify, think. It’s hard. Informed voting isn’t easy. In some ways, in today’s world, it’s actually extremely complicated because we are all being manipulated in multiple directions.
There is no perfect solution to this dilemma. The most solid path forward individually for voters is stay informed rather than relying on ads as a source. Good luck.