This country is getting to a point in history where something needs to change or we will be in big trouble. Not to say we are not already in trouble, but it will get worse. Here in America we see ourselves as a fresh alternative to "oppressive power" seen elsewhere in the world. Yet more and more we ourselves are being oppressed. We are stuck with values that quickly aging, rendering us no better then some of the oppressive leaders we despise. We like to believe we are a progressive culture. We might give the world the impression that we are adaptable as a people, but the truth is, our values have changed little in the past. For a lot of reasons this is a good thing. But there is a quickly growing list of issues we need to decide on and adapt to if we are going to move forward as a whole. The debates for the likes of gay marriage and stem cell research are heated, but we are moving nowhere on them. To use an analogy I hate, Bush keeps speaking of this corner we may or may not have already turned. In truth, there is a corner there that symbolizes increased technology, social beliefs, religious beliefs, and the core values each of us have. America is NOT turning this corner; we are trying to force the road to follow the same path as always. We need someone (or, I don't know, an entire party lets say) to point out that a turn is coming up and we need to adjust if we are going to make it around that corner. And just to make it clear, I feel Bush's "America is turning a corner" tag line is just more marketing. Spit out there to sway the mindless turds of this country who vote based on a political party without weighing any options at all.
Why? One reason is lack of knowledge or lack of acceptance by our political leaders. We have the Republicans as a whole on the edge of lying to the public about what embryonic stems cells actually are. They never actually say it, but most people are still under the impression that embryonic cells come from unborn babies. The media who favor this party play the same game. Why do we allow this to happen? Regardless of how you feel on this issue, wouldn't you like to know the facts behind someone saying it is wrong? Maybe we need an independent organization to watch for these "almost lies" and set the record straight.
Personally I believe the "mainstream" media is ruining the political process in this country. You get so many varied opinions of the same speech on as many channels or even programs that it is hard to extract the real meaning of anything. It is to the point where you have to research the background anyone who is reporting the "fair and balanced" news on anything. To be fair, newscasters are just people who have opinions too, but they need to be held accountable for knowingly spinning their point of view into what really matters. Millions of people take these newscasters at face value and believe everything they say. It is really sad to think we are to the point where the issues surrounding John Kerry's military record from 35 years ago gets more attention then issues that are going to affect the future of this country. The media is ever convincing us that we need them if we want to know what is going on in our world. The truth is, the media is feeding us what they want us to hear. Playing up specific issues according to their own agendas and muting others they feel we don’t "need" to know about. Case in point, when George Bush came to Seattle the media was all over the fact that he raised millions of dollars for his campaign. Most of this money was donated by big businesses and wealthy individuals. A sure sign that Washington State MUST support Bush! Almost nothing was said of the small airline who was forced to ground (or water, since they takeoff and land on lake union) their entire fleet of light aircraft due to "security concerns" while Bush was in town. Passengers in remote areas who were counting on a floatplane to pick them up could not be contacted and advised of the 18 hours the airline would be grounded. They lost around $75,000 because of this. Bush came to Washington to speak of how good he would be for Washington businesses, as ironic as that is. Yet other then a small story in a local paper, nothing was said. The small airline was never compensated.
The point, however, is not only what the media is feeding the public. They may have better resources and the means to find out core beliefs and values of a candidate, but they are still buying into a product. No longer are we deciding on one candidate or another. We are being advertised to by the candidate's party. We are not voters, we are consumers. The party marketing teams have realized that the most successful products are the ones that have the best marketing and have taken that to heart. They don't care about minor issues or fringe beliefs. They just want to sell you the biggest bell and the loudest whistle, all while pointing out how bad the competing product is. You know that if the Republicans were owned by Coca-Cola, the Democrats would be owned by Pepsi. More and more the issues are not important, but who has a better tag line. We now get to decide between "America is turning a corner" versus "Help is on the way." Which sounds an awful lot like "I'm lovin' it" versus "Have it your way." Which product makes your mouth water more? Disregard that smaller company or candidate. They don’t have as good of a slogan! Really, it is just a side effect of our culture. We don’t have a say in what really matters to us anymore. We get told what to do and what to buy everywhere we turn, why not politics as well?
Well if they are going to treat us like consumers, we should act like it. Don't let them feed us what they want us to hear. We as consumers drive the market. We decide what they do and say. If we do not respond to a specific issue, they will be forced to find a new way to market a candidate to us. However, as a society we have become too passive to make a real attempt to change this behavior. Until we have a real alternative to our "two party system" we are stuck with it. Why was the public not outraged at the Republican Party helping Ralph Nader by going out and getting signatures FOR HIM to add him to the ballots in a lot of areas? Everyone knows they are doing it because they believe it will steal votes from the Democrats, yet we sit passively by and watch it happen. I believe we need more then two parties in this country, but I also believe it shouldn't be done THAT way. Why does Ralph Nader get so much press anyway? What about the Libertarian Party? They have a lot of fringe support in many areas, but the media ignores them. Perhaps they have the ideals and values that match those of voters, we won't know because there must not a lot of Libertarian newscasters out there who care enough about them to actually show the public what they are about. Here in Seattle we had a local news company (because it IS a company) airing debates for some of the closer races in this state. In one instance, they had the two Democrats debate each other, and then in a separate segment the two Republicans debate each other. That was it. As a voter in Washington, I had to decide on my ballot to choose a party before I could vote for any partisan positions. We could choose between Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian. If they bother to put the party as a choice on the ballot, shouldn't the media feel inclined to present this third party as a contender? I mean, this country's first president was a Libertarian. Shouldn't that be enough to get them a little press? I guess not.
We need to demand a change. We need to break from this two party system which sells us marketing ploys that mask issues we might be unfavorable to. We need to change the system we control. We need to not let them distract us from the real issues. We need to pressure the media to do a better job of holding all candidates accountable, and treating them all the same. We need to be more aware the likes of Fox News and their subtle spin on every issue.
We have truth in advertising laws that protect the consumer from purchasing a product different then what was advertised to them. Shouldn't we demand the same in our political system?