I saw a TV blurb go by yesterday about time expiring for raising campaign contributions in the second quarter. And that's when it dawned on me to consider how and why that money's spent.
To my understanding, most of the funds go toward advertising and getting out the vote. But, exactly who are these candidates advertising to? Because I can't believe that any ad by any politician is going to make up or change any likely voter's mind.
To begin with, only about half the population votes, and of those voters, most already have some kind of interest or focus on their candidates or parties of choice. So then, how is an ad from the opposition going to change their minds? Beyond that, in today's day and age where folks are hammered all day long by advertising for every conceivable thing on earth, how much effect is any ad going to have on them at all? It's also my bet that even if people have their TV sound on, the pap that's spouted bounces off them like white noise because they're inured. And aside from the fact that nobody really listens or cares about ads, even if they did, experience has taught them that little in advertisements is ever the truth.
But despite the preceding, let's pretend that folks actually do pay attention to ads and absorb the information presented. And if that's the case, then how do those ads affect them? Because they know what they've actually seen or experienced from candidates as those incumbents have performed in their roles. So, how or why is any ad going to change the truth?
At the moment we have an incumbent who's proven track record's horrendous in almost every category there is, unless you're one of those who wants to see our nation crumbled, and that's simply everyday fact. So how can any ad on earth change his record? His primary opponent wasn't very effective when leading a state, and that too is documented truth. And as far as the rest of the current field goes, none stand out as head and shoulders above the rest, in fact most of them are nothing but glorified political hacks. So, how can an ad change their stripes?
Lastly, in today's day and age I don't think anyone with an IQ bigger than their shoe size buys anything because of ads or promotion, simply because they've been fooled, disappointed or defrauded too many times in their lives to believe the hype and smoke. So since political ads are highly unlikely to have any real effect at all, why not put all that money back into people's pockets where it might have a chance to do some good?
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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