It Doesn't Work?

Everybody says that negative campaigns don’t work. And yet, it seems like every campaign eventually devolves to a series of name-calling and mud-slinging.

Everybody I know hopes that their guy won’t engage in such stupidity … but they do. Instead of actually explaining HOW they will do whatever they’ve promised to do, or exactly WHAT they think needs to change, and how it will effect Average Joe, they tell you what their opponent has done that they think is wrong. And if they can’t find enough of those types of things to tell you about, they will twist the facts or even make them up.

If negative campaigns don’t work, why do they do it? I suspect because negative ads DO work. If candidate A can throw enough dirt onto candidate B, then A will look better, especially since most voters have no idea what is true and what is not. I like that some of the news programs have started to ‘fact check’ things the presidential candidates say, but what about the more local candidates?

Even when the fact checkers say, “This statement by candidate A is absolutely wrong,” candidate A and his campaign continue to repeat it, over and over again, as if saying it a few hundred times will make it true. It doesn’t. But by repeating it that many times, they can drill it into people’s minds that it is true.

I hate negative campaigns. They don’t give me any INFORMATION to allow me to make an intelligent decision. But that’s one more reason why the candidates engage in them. They aren’t looking to inform you; they want to convince you. I suspect the candidates resort to mud-slinging because they really don’t have any idea how they are going to solve the problems of the day. So they have to convince the voters that their opponent is even worse.

Entitlements

I’m sure you’ve heard this word a lot lately; the Republican candidates have assigned it a negative connotation. I’m not sure exactly what they include in the ‘foul’ embrace of ‘entitlements’, but they certainly have been pushing my buttons.

Social Security – I’ve worked over 40 years, have been paying into Social Security since my mid-teens. When I can start receiving an ss check every month, then … darn right I’m entitled to it! It’s MY money! Politicians talk about the trouble social security is in. I remember hearing – years ago – that Congress saw social security as another pocket they could dip into whenever they felt like spending. Has that money ever been put back in? It’s just like a pension plan, right? Of course it breaks down if the company dips into the pension plan to buy office furniture! But that isn’t the fault of the people who have been paying in.

Medicare – I have heard horror stories about Medicare, like a 96-year-old falls on a patch of ice and breaks a leg (at least), and Medicare argues that it wasn’t ‘necessary’ for the ambulance to take her to the hospital, and they wouldn’t pay for that. But the fact is, businesses don’t continue paying any of your insurance premiums once you retire. And buying your own insurance is not feasible. I know someone who pays over 1/3 of her pension to her mortgage. She recently got a quote for health insurance that would take another 1/3 of her pension each month. If she wants to eat, have water to drink and keep her house above freezing in winter, all her other bills would go unpaid. So she’s gambling she won’t get sick, won’t slip on any ice patches. At least, not until she can sign up for Medicare in a few years.

The fanatics who are fanning the flames against ‘entitlements’ must either be rich, or they have ‘forgotten’ that old people don’t just disappear when they retire. After working for decades, retirees are hoping for a few years of relatively good health when they can enjoy themselves. Possibly they still have one or both of their own parents who are now relying on them for assistance, a ride to the doctor’s office, or so on. What do these fanatics do when their mother falls? Do they say, “Oh, well, she’s past her prime, and we can’t expect any more productivity from her, so just leave her there.” Or do they call for an ambulance, take her to a doctor to be checked out?