This is Troubling


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Donald Trump to Reshape Image, New Campaign Chief Tells G.O.P. That’s the headline of an article in The New York Times.

Hillary Clinton Tacks Left with Wall Street Crackdown, headlined The Financial Times.

Trump Says He Can Be More Presidential than Anyone Except Lincoln, reads a MarketWatch headline.

What these publications and every newspaper, every cable blatherer and every AM radio talk spewer misses is that what will matter to America is not the carefully crafted, focus-grouped bumper sticker words that are tortured into something designed to suck votes. What will matter is what a candidate might actually do once in office.

The common wisdom about Bernie pulling Hillary to the left is just so much nonsense. Hillary will say whatever she needs to say to get elected and so will every other candidate. However, it’s folly to believe that Bernie, having been her opponent in the primary, will have magically morphed her brain, such that, should she become president, she would act more lefty than had she been sans Bernie. All the shape shifting is just so much show business.

The test for voters is whether we can tell the difference between reality and the distorted appearance of reality in this hall-of-mirrors election season. Thanks in part to our press mindlessly regurgitating the election-ese language manipulation of candidates, millions of Americans can’t tell the difference. This is troubling.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

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3 Responses to This is Troubling

  1. Ed April 25, 2016 Reply

    Jack,

    This is basically what I’ve been saying in my comments to your previous blogs: Candidates will say/promise anything they think will help get them elected. As I wrote in our personal correspondence, the phrase “disingenuous politician” is redundant.

  2. dominick April 25, 2016 Reply

    Jack,

    Our politicians can say whatever they please to get elected, as long as the voting public accepts this arrangement. While there are dozens of other political parties in the US, Democrats or Republicans win over 99% of all elections. In addition, the member of one of these political parties with the most money wins 95% of the time. Considering this year’s Presidential election, does anyone wonder why the press has paid attention only to a couple dozen of these party members? Aren’t there at least 10,000 qualified candidates for this office in the country? After all, no political experience is necessary to fill this position, just be 35 years old, born and lived here for 14 years and you’re in!

    Hopefully, energized voters may one day figure out that they are the ones allowing these two private political parties, and the people they offer to be elected, to make independent decisions for them. All it will take is a few individuals asking themselves some common sense questions. Why should they pay political public servants who don’t listen or respond to them when they take office? Why don’t their representatives poll their constituents, before they make decisions? Why don’t they have a constituent forum on their web site? Why don’t most of them have regular town hall meetings? In other words, how can an elected official represent their constituents, if their ordinary constituents are never asked for their opinions?

    Our Internet technologies for polling and forums has been around for years now. It’s time we start demanding our representatives use them, otherwise how can they be accountable to us. This is the fastest way to get money out of politics, and eliminate the unsavory influence of political party authority over lawmaking. It’s time for us to have a citizen-directed democracy, not an oligarchy of politicians telling us what to do. Try getting people to understand that we have no oligarchy of a wealthy 1% or corporations, but an oligarchy of politicians taking every penny offered to them. We don’t need laws to stop money in politics, just elected officials who have moral character.

  3. Jim Altschuler April 24, 2016 Reply

    This is not new, unfortunately. Thinking back through every presidential primary and election since 1960 (the first one in which I had any involvement) every candidate has tried to package themselves into whatever they and their “teams” of wordsmiths perceive as being what is necessary to provoke voters into acting in each candidate’s best behalf.

    Never mind whether there is any truth in their words. Never mind whether the candidate has any intentions of living up to the promises made with those words. Never mind whether the office of President even has the authority to do the things promised.

    Bottom Line: Every candidate has said and continues to say whatever he or she thinks will get them elected, whether those words have any basis in truth or reality.

    Maybe we should elect someone who doesn’t really covet the power and prestige of the office. Maybe then we could get honest leadership.