[New blogs posted every Sunday. For previous blogs please visit “blog archive” to the lower left of this screen. Click on the small black arrows for a drop down list.] Original blog launched March 2009
Ah, it’s that happiest time of the year. Cookies in the oven, our homes are decorated with bright holiday colors, happy smiles of expectation are on the faces of small children, the stockings are hung . . .oh, wait a minute. That’s wrong. It’s the phoniest time of the year, not the happiest time of the year. Silly me. And it’s only the primary. The hardcore phony stuff will be in November, then later in the month we’ll have something to give thanks for. Well, some of us will.
I don't think any of us are fooled (anymore) about how voting works in this country. If a group or person has gobs of money they can buy their measure, proposition, or political office. Just a few minutes ago I heard that two California governor primary hopefuls (Poizner and Whitman) are willing (and able) to pump up their coffers from their own personal wealth by (hold on) millions of dollars—each. This will primarily be devoted to advertising.
I don't like politics and do not spend much time listening to politicians. Too many scandals, too many lies, too much money going into thin air—or worse. It’s all a mess and our forefathers must be rolling over in their graves. Of course, they made many horrible decisions and kept secrets from the citizenry too. They were not all about milk and cookies and apple pie. But even though they were mostly a bunch of powerful rich land baron white men with slaves they tried very hard to make us a free society with laws and justice. We had to be protected from ourselves.
And let’s not forget past politicians who developed the electoral college (a concept charmingly known as an indirect election) to keep the ignorant from understanding how voting was/is rigged. District apportionment my foot. It was formed in 1787. Does anyone think that something that worked for our quaint form of government then works for our massive out of control system now? 1787 to 2010? Really? [Fun fact: Abraham Lincoln’s winning total in the 1860 election included four electors who were pledged to Stephen Douglas. Oops! Electors who don't keep their promise are referred to as faithless electors. Apropos.] And it’s always been about the ruling class providing government for us simple folk.
That said, I do however pay attention when it’s time to vote and I always do a little research. Independent research, not watching TV ads. The TV ads are horrifically successful however which is why millions of dollars are spent on them. No, instead, I do my own research and usually find someone, or some thing, I can vote for without puking. But not always.
Over the years family and friends learned about my little peculiarity for researching election people and issues and often asked my opinion, one or two days prior to elections. That’s fine because I’m usually prepared at that point. However, I strive to not influence their vote and I attempt to express a few pertinent unbiased facts and hope that helps (truly). Sometimes I’m asked who or what I’m going to vote for and sometimes that’s helpful if they follow my political policy views, you know, like I said, slightly to the left of Jesus. Others when hearing what I’ve decided to vote for will vote the opposite because of their political views. This is fine with me because they are correct to vote opposite my position (if they are Godless and fascists and don't like Jesus).
All kidding aside, sort of, an alarming number of citizens vote the TV ads. In polls and surveys the reason is “time.” Our lives are busier than ever today and the issues are overwhelming and not trustworthy. There are so many information resources pulling at us every day all day it’s hard to stop and take the time to study anything. Those of us who do make the effort end up with major headaches and are more confused than when we began. (I actually voted “no” on something once that I wanted to vote “yes” on meaning the opposite vote was necessary for my point of view but the proposition or measure was written in such a convoluted manner that I selected the wrong response. I didn’t realize it for a few days and was heartsick.) However, the fact that we do continue to dig through the muck has trained us to spot a deceptive ad the moment we see it.
Proposition 16 is an excellent example. On the screen we see a sincere (attractive) woman imploring us to make sure we the voters get our “right to vote” (patriotic buzz words) for our muni governments’ decisions to go into the utility business. It seems reasonable. We should have our vote on many issues so at the outset of this proposition it simply sounds like it’s attempting to secure our voting rights on big decisions. I don't really have a feeling for that either way but it doesn’t, on the surface, sound bad.
The very first time I saw the ad however my Spidey sense tingled, “I bet PG&E is funding this ad.” Toward the end of the commercial I tried, in vain, to ascertain who was supporting this prop and of course the required printing at the bottom of the screen was out of my senior vision range and also sped by like a speeding bullet. The lettering was also extremely faint. So I ran to my trusty crime fighter—my little MacBook. Sure enough, “major funding by PG&E.” Don't just take my word for it. Look it up. Still, I’m not saying this is bad in itself but the ad is dishonest and disingenuous and the pretty citizen is an actress and the script is weighted without clarity. So whether or not Prop 16 is worthy or not I’m voting against it because of the dishonest advertising. [And I just got my new Smart Meter installed a couple of weeks ago, under protest, and I’m trembling at the thought of opening my next bill so I’m a tad unhappy with PG&E. I told the installer I didn’t want it until the kinks were worked out and he said I didn’t have a choice. I don't own a weapon.]
Next, Meg Whitman’s ad campaign was obnoxious but has improved. I wrote an email to her campaign when the first series of blaring ads appeared, multiple times per evening. I had to stop watching TV during the early period of her ad campaign. I then devoted my leisure TV time to Netflix in the evenings (which I stream to my TV). I encouraged her to fire her campaign manager and start using ads that are simple and direct perhaps with a nice desk with her sitting behind it explaining her platform. By God, she did! I know my humble email didn’t change her ad campaign but I know many people like myself wrote to her about her choice of TV ads. By the way, not that it matters, but I’m not voting for her or any of the other candidates in November—so far. Those boxes could be left blank. Just the way it is sometimes. I used to vote for the lesser of two evils (or three or four) but I can’t do that anymore. I have gone through my primary absentee ballot and voted and mailed it off and left quite a few boxes unchecked. It will be likewise in November. Some people have stopped voting all together. With all the voting problems we’ve had I can understand the frustration.
I have never missed a vote in my entire life. Never. Over the last few years I’ve voted absentee, which is glorious. I prepare my ritual voting coffee, sit in my cute little breakfast nook, watch the birds, sip, set all of my collected voting materials next to my MacBook, which follows me wherever I go like a devoted Golden Retriever, place my “Star Spangled Banner” CD on the Bose and go for it. Though it’s often depressing to me I still enjoy and appreciate that I have a vote. (I really do have a “Star Spangled Banner” CD. Bleeding heart liberals are intense patriots. Just ask Michael Moore who fights corporation criminals, crooked politicians, environmental polluters, and our sick health care system [pun intended] and everyone hates him for it. If he looked like Brad Pitt there’d be parades in his honor.)
I’m often disappointed when the results come out because I would love to have tons of school money and all of our roads fixed and assistance for poor families and real medical care that’s affordable for all and true bail out for people losing their homes and most of our nation’s CEOs in prison, and electric cars (thank you Tesla), and assistance for immigrants (there’s a rumor in my family that a grandfather jumped ship in California and I am therefore from illegal alien stock and proud of it) and prison reform and eternal damnation for pedophiles (that last one is just a special wish and probably will never appear on a ballot) and every other left wing bleeding heart socialist cause that comes down the pike, but I still vote and I still study, and I still feel good about it.
But even though we all have divergent views the one thing we should and must agree on is dumping these obnoxious, lying, over-the-top, stupendously outrageous media ads. Way too many people are voting the ads and not the people or issues. It only takes a few minutes to ferret out the information online. Even the voter information pamphlet is somewhat helpful though hardly anyone reads it.
Advertising has controlled our country for years and we all understand that because we are a capitalistic society. Countless groups try to control advertising directed at children because children are wildly influenced by the ads and we have dumped cigarette advertising entirely (but not alcohol—go figure) and some advertisers have tried to promote their products more honestly. (I like the cranberry ads, corny and simple.) But political advertising is out of control. Why can’t they simply present their platforms and policies and not rake their opponents over the coals? And what about those ads where two attractive “caring” actors are discussing the issue/person and one actor portrays an unenlightened voter and the enlightened actor feeds the unenlightened actor a line of mush and the ad ends with the unenlightened actor so happy to now be well informed. The ads are designed to “enlighten” the viewer/listener and provide an imprint with a voting choice that will save their home, send their kids to college, end crime forever, eliminate our national debt, groom their pets, and shower the country with fairy dust so that all of our dreams come true.
Remember, the people who appear on Jerry Springer are eligible to vote. Guess who political ads are aimed at? Not me.
www.sharonstrawhandgarner.com
Because it's rare, each week in this spot I will report an instance of good customer service (if any) but without embellishment. Just a business or an entity that knows how to treat customers. This week I received excellent customer service from:
United States Postal Service-Coddingtown Branch, Santa Rosa;
AT&T Customer Service-Calvin;
Best Wishes—Lad’s Shopping Center, Santa Rosa
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