(Un)Intended Consequences

Monday, November 1, 2010
Christ on a crutch, I am sick to death of political ads and calls. They're EVERYWHERE, each more disingenuous, duplicitous and obnoxious than the last. We're averaging four political calls a day here at the Big Yellow House, and yesterday I was treated to one at the beginning of a You Tube video. I've already voted, and if I have to inadvertently hear one more television advertisement, or listen to one more recorded shill for their pet issue, somebody's going to get hurt.WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.

Colorado has been flooded by outside political money this season, and as a result of SCOTUS' Citizens United decision, everyone who thinks they have a dog in this fight has been airing attack ads on pretty much every Federal candidate on the docket:
 "Michael Benett cast the DECIDING VOTE on Obama-Care!" Because evidently the other Senators that voted for the Health Care Reform Bill didn't decide anything.

"Ken Buck wants to outlaw BIRTH CONTROL!" Well, not really, although I do think that he has an unnatural interest in my uterus.

Etc., etc. ad naseum.
The end result of this saturation is that voters, whether they have any interest in the political process or not, get so fucking disgusted by the constant bombardment and invasion of privacy that they just tune out and give up in disgust.

And that, my friends, is fucked up. Because the only people who GENUINELY have a dog in this fight is us. Coloradans. Not the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Not "Americans for Job Security." Not "The National Education Association Advocacy Fund." US. And more and more people believe that given the enormous sums of money being spent by these completely opaque organizations, their participation simply doesn't matter - the (un)intended consequence of the Citizens United decision. Hell, I'm particularly militant when it comes to my franchise, and this year I was so sick of the ads, the saturation, and the invasion of my privacy that I had to FORCE MYSELF to do my research and make informed choices before I voted. How much crap does an average voter have to take before they check out on our political process altogether and stay home?

Which may, in fact, be the intended consequence after all. God bless America. Or at least the 501(c)4s and 501(c)6s.

4 comments:

mom in northern said...

Just imagine all the GOOD that could be down with all the Billions they have spent on this election. I still say candidates should only be allowed to campaign for 6 weeks before an election..and not a single miniute more.

Stacey said...

ditto mom's comment and I add - the candidate can only say what they've done or what they are going to do. don't tell me the twisted version of what the other candidate has or hasn't done.

Janiece said...

Stacey, I'm kind of fond of John Hickenlooper for that reason...

Anne C. said...

I totally agree, Stacey. When I was doing my research to vote, anytime a candidate did that, it was a black mark against them.