The Politicians Are Calling!! The Politicians Are Calling!!

One of the things that I absolutely hate about this election year is the increased number of political phone calls. I don't know about any of you, but I've been getting an average of two phone calls a day for the past two months, and I'm absolutely sick of them. And they have been coming from both political parties.

Almost none of the phone calls have been "nice.", i.e., informative calls. They have mostly been the nasty, negative attack variety. "My opponent voted against you having a job, a car, a dog, and a house with a white picket fence!" Or, "Elect me and I'll stop the corruption in government demonstrated by my opponent!" "My opponent wants to turn your house into the next landfill site (for the public good, of course)!" Is it any wonder that the majority of voters appear to be confused & disgusted with politicians?

The part of these phone calls that just take my breath away is that they almost always state that they have a plan to correct what faults their opponent has with their plan. What's interesting is that they never state what the plan is!! The challengers state that they have a plan to create jobs, reduce unemployment, guarantee healthcare & pensions, and make sure that there's a chicken in every pot, but are always short of how they are going to do that. The incumbents say the same thing. To the challengers - give us details on how you are going to do what you promise. To the incumbents - why haven't you started your plan before now?

What us, the voters, need to realize, is that politicians love to grandstand, puff themselves up, minimize their many faults and maximize their opponents, all for the purpose of getting elected. An earlier post, A Politician's Job, outlines their real priorities.

Now before some of you want to flame me for this statement and defend your favorite elected official, realize that I'm speaking about the majority of politicians, not the few who give a damn & have the personal character, ethics, and guts to stand up for what is right for the public & not put themselves first. Of course, there are very few of them, which makes the following joke almost always true:

How can you tell if a politician is lying? Their lips move...

Perhaps I'm being too hard on our politicians. But then again, they have given all of us on both sides of the aisle plenty of ammunition. Scandals ranging from sexual impropriety to bribes to corruption to dumb statements have been aired by the media (although more for one party than the other). Perhaps we, the voters, should hold our elected officials to higher standards. But then again, who are we kidding? It's as bad or worse as Diogenes looking for a honest man in the world.

The real problem is that politics is a dirty business, and very few upright & honest men are willing to put themselves through the hell that the media & the opposing party dishes out. Thus, let the mudslinging ensue.

In less than a week, we will be exercising our civic duty to go and vote for the candidates of our choice. Whoever wins will be who we are stuck with. All I can ask of anyone reading this post is that you vote your conscience, and not be bound by blind political loyalty. Vote for the person who will get the job done the right way without the BS and hypocrisy.