How to sell mass market consumer goods in the United States:– Ignore real consumer needs. Create a need that people didn’t know they had. Find a good-looking woman (or a man, but honestly women work better) to pose in videos and photos. Use overheated rhetoric to bring home your half-truths via mass media. Use dishonesty to overcome your competition.
How to sell presidential candidates win elections in the United States: Follow above steps.
The farcical democracy we endure in this country during presidential elections does not strive after goodness, nor does it aim to provide the best life for the populace. It is amoral;– it has no moral content. All that can be said of it is that at its best our democracy has entertainment value; at worst, it is cheap hucksterism trying to sell us a useless commodity.
And no, I don’t think this is a cynical post. I rewrote it several times so as to remove most of the cynicism.
Hear, hear.
Or, as Owen would say: Woof, woof!
Tired of all that trash?
Vote Nader (http://www.votenader.org/issues/)
seriously.
(I found it interesting that, in response to the Independent Fact-Checkers pointing out that Palin’s claim that she supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” project wasn’t entirely accurate, the McCain camp responded with “We don’t care what you fact-checkers say, we believe what we believe!”)
I am cynical. We get what we deserve when such a small fraction of the eligible people actually vote.
You might be surprised to know that there are three other candidates that are on the ballot in enough states to potentially win the election — and Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader *are* running moral, clean, and fair campaigns. Bob Barr is the other, and I have mixed feelings about him.
It’s just unfortunate that the same corporations that are sponsoring the Dems and the Reps also buy commercial time on the major network tv stations — so yes, what we see on the color television is mostly trying to sell the circus.
I am cynical too — but maybe in different ways. (Jean forbids me from discussing politics with her)
Aaron @ 2 — Yes, Nader is decent and honest but the sad truth is that Nader will be lucky to get 5% of the vote. Which gets back to my point — it doesn’t pay (literally and figuratively pay) to be moral in American presidential politics.
Dad @ 3 — It’s a catch-22 situation — why vote when you know your vote doesn’t really count anyway?
Melissa @ 4 — See my post for today (Thursday, September 11).
Jean doesn’t like it when I talk politics with her either. We can talk about anything else — chew toys, fetch, swimming in stinky ponds, fetch, eating horse poop (which I keep telling her is a LOT like politics), fetch, supper, treats. ANYthing but politics.
She does promise she is voting for ME though. That’s all I can say.
Love, OWEN
“Yes, Nader is decent and honest but the sad truth is that Nader will be lucky to get 5% of the vote. Which gets back to my point — it doesn’t pay (literally and figuratively pay) to be moral in American presidential politics.”
So why is that any reason NOT to vote for him? Are we picking lottery numbers or voting for our leader?
And FWIW — he’s at 6-8% in current polls, and on the ballot in 45 states (write-in candidate in the other 5). Current initiatives are to get him involved in the debates. Jesse Ventura had similar percentages 7 weeks before the Gubernatorial elections in MN — they let him into the debates and he ended up winning.
Aaron @ 7 — “Are we picking lottery numbers or voting for our leader?”
Neither. We’re being manipulated by PACs, lobbyists, multinational corporations, and other monied interests. In short, there is no reason not to vote for Nader.
Personally, I’d be more inclined to vote for McKinney, even though she’s polling below one percent. But that’s because I agree with her politics more than I agree with Nader’s.
McKinney is a 9/11 Truther. I’m not sure what her exact views are, but i do recall a House committe hearing a couple years back in which she grilled Rumsfeld and other DoD officials about the four wargames that were being conducted on 9/11/01 … and that she wasn’t given very substantial answers to her questions.