06 November 2006

Politics as usual

Is anyone else disgusted with the estimated $2.6 billion being spent on the mid-term elections? Does anyone else find this unacceptable? I am absolutely flabbergasted by the way our political process has been high jacked by political action committees (PACs) and big money contributions. If ever there was a reason for real campaign finance reform this is it.

If you think that big money is only going to the republicans, think again. I heard a story on National Public Radio recently how businesses are hedging their bets and funneling money into both the democrats and republicans coffers. The majority of this money is spent on attack ads which have no substance and rarely tell a voter anything about the candidate. Unfortunately Americans are stupid enough to believe the attack ads because we are lazy and refuse to do our homework. We refuse to critically think about the issues and instead accept what is told us or merely vote along party lines.

People talk about making the political system accessible to the American people. But this type of campaigning shows me that only those that are rich or those with one hand in the pocket of a multiple PACs can win. That goes for both parties. We have truly lost our representative democracy. When are we going to take it back?

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