It’ll all be over soon, at which time you’ll again find it safe to turn on your TV or radio and not be disgusted.
No, we’re not talking about the Minnesota Vikings season. Although, particularly with Adrian Peterson news, there’s been plenty about which to be disgusted.
This missive is about the campaign season, which has been in high gear the last several weeks and for the average citizen is as enjoyable as getting whacked on the thumb by a hammer. The average citizen might actually prefer a smashed thumb if it meant being able to avoid a month’s worth of election ads. At least it’d be over quick.
This is a tricky path for a talk-show host. So much of the show content the past two months has been about candidates, controversies or causes it seems hypocritical to gripe about the campaign season. It’s been easy pickings. And, frankly, the radio station for which I work can pay more than a few bills with the money earned from campaign advertising. Simply put, elections are good business for the media.
But Tuesday can’t come fast enough.
Politics have always been a dirty business, best left for the big boys and girls with no heart and even less conscience, but the influx of ungodly sums of money has made elections and campaigning an insufferable marathon of fear-mongering and negativity.
Candidates rarely have anything to offer, other than attacks on their opponent. They never speak outside of sound bites, talking points and clichés. This is by design, of course, because polling firms find out what issues concern voters and campaign professionals figure out how to best leverage those concerns into votes for their candidate.
Poll: Voters are angry about unfixed potholes in their community.
Candidate: “My No. 1 concern is the inexcusable number of potholes left unrepaired in our community. I vow to fix every pothole within the first 100 days after being elected. My opponent has had ample time to fix potholes and has done nothing. In fact, his inaction leads me to believe he likes potholes and is working on adding more potholes to our city streets.”
It matters not that the candidate didn’t even know potholes were a problem and couldn’t care less about fixing potholes, that’s what his handlers are telling him to say.
It’s all so phony and unproductive. Campaigns should be honest, free exchanges of ideas that allow voters to make an informed choice. Instead they are all about staying on message and demonizing the opposition.
Maybe I’m just disillusioned by watching what’s unfolded with Measure 5 in North Dakota. That is the constitutional amendment that would take a fraction of the state’s exploding oil taxes and put the money into a conservation fund. The money could be used for state parks or a state-run habitat program or any number of well-intentioned outdoors projects.
Early polling showed a vast majority of North Dakotans favored such an amendment. But as the Election Day nears, the opposition to Measure 5 has risen to a cacophony of phony scare tactics, lies and smear jobs. It is an assault unlike anything I’ve ever seen, most of it pure B.S. unleashed on an uninformed public.
And it’s working. While I once believed Measure 5 would pass comfortably, I’m not so sure anymore that it’ll pass at all. And it may go down in flames.
That’s not why I’m frustrated. Policies, amendments and candidates I support often lose. That’s the nature of politics. What is so maddening is the idea that instead of voters deciding Measure 5 based on its positives or negatives, it is being decided on lies and fear-mongering. Measure 5’s opponents would have us believe passage of the amendment would leave no money for schools, roads, bridges or anything else in North Dakota. Nor would any farmland be left because it’d all be purchased by conservation organizations and turned into wetlands.
Nothing of the sort would happen. Not even close. But instead of having a debate on relevant arguments like the amount of money involved, or whether an initiative of this nature belongs in the state constitution – fair discussions, for sure – the opposition has devolved into fantastical mistruths.
Frustrating. And so unnecessary.
Thankfully, it’ll be over Tuesday.
(Mike McFeely is a talk-show host on 790 KFGO-AM. His show can be heard 2-5 p.m. weekdays. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMcFeelyKFGO.)