On one of my favorite topics politics.
I‘m very cynical when it comes to politics, a couple of my favorite sayings are “We have the best politicians that money can buy.” and “Politician is just another word for prostitute.” Don’t get me wrong, there are some really great politicians here in Connecticut and nationally but in order to get elected you need that green stuff, a lot of it.
The second problem with politics is us. That is right you and me. We can be bought easily, it doesn’t take much just some meaningless promises.
I am going to make America great again!
I am going to protect Social Security!
I am going to make Connecticut business friendly!
Just exactly do these slogans mean? They sound really great, yeah I’m all for making America great again, but tell me what is wrong with it now? And how are you going to make it great? How are you going to protect Social Security? How are you going to make Connecticut business friendly again?
They are only sound bites with no substance.
When I am interviewed by reporters you will notice I hesitate a lot and it is because I am thinking in sound bites. I know on the news they will only ten, fifteen seconds of what I say and I want to talk in sound bites and get my point across.
When I was in grad school there was a class advocacy and one of the things that I learned is the “elevator speech” where you get your message across in a minute or less.
I could only watch fifteen or twenty minutes of the debates, both candidates never answered any of the questions asked them. They always spun the answer to the points they want to make and condense it down to a sound bites.
I blame us, the electorate, we do not demand answers, we want sound bites so we do not have to think.
The 30 second ad that I saw this morning on television the Republican candidate said he was going to balance the budget… well by law the budget has to be balanced. What I want to know is what is he going to cut and what tax breaks is he going to give businesses to make the state “business friendly?”
Also culpable in this is the mainstream media, news now is a profit center. There is money in the news business and they attract viewers by having sensational news topics, the boring details just don’t sell ads. They don’t want to ask probing questions and let the candidates avoid answering the questions because if they force the candidate to answer the questions they might not get another interview or by shut out “press briefings.”
What we as voters have to do is our research, take time to understand the issues. How many of us know the answer to the question that stumped the Libertarian candidate about Aleppo. How many of us know the issues that face social Security and what are the remedies that have been proposed and how it will affect us? How many of us know how the state and federal budget is being spent. Did you know that all of the health and human services are about 9% of the total budget while spending on the military is over 50% of the budget?
People tend to criticize our legislators but if you ever sit in a committee hearing, the legislators are trying to understand the topic which is a lot more than some of the voters. Yes, the questions do tend to follow party lines but they are probing questions. Once a hearing for the non-discrimination someone who testified against the bill as he was getting up from the chair sat back down and said that he that the hearing was totally different than what he expected and he got to hear both sides of the issue.
I say to you, learn both sides of the issues, I believe that many of you who read my blog are educated on the issues, but many other people do not.
I‘m very cynical when it comes to politics, a couple of my favorite sayings are “We have the best politicians that money can buy.” and “Politician is just another word for prostitute.” Don’t get me wrong, there are some really great politicians here in Connecticut and nationally but in order to get elected you need that green stuff, a lot of it.
The second problem with politics is us. That is right you and me. We can be bought easily, it doesn’t take much just some meaningless promises.
I am going to make America great again!
I am going to protect Social Security!
I am going to make Connecticut business friendly!
Just exactly do these slogans mean? They sound really great, yeah I’m all for making America great again, but tell me what is wrong with it now? And how are you going to make it great? How are you going to protect Social Security? How are you going to make Connecticut business friendly again?
They are only sound bites with no substance.
When I am interviewed by reporters you will notice I hesitate a lot and it is because I am thinking in sound bites. I know on the news they will only ten, fifteen seconds of what I say and I want to talk in sound bites and get my point across.
When I was in grad school there was a class advocacy and one of the things that I learned is the “elevator speech” where you get your message across in a minute or less.
I could only watch fifteen or twenty minutes of the debates, both candidates never answered any of the questions asked them. They always spun the answer to the points they want to make and condense it down to a sound bites.
I blame us, the electorate, we do not demand answers, we want sound bites so we do not have to think.
The 30 second ad that I saw this morning on television the Republican candidate said he was going to balance the budget… well by law the budget has to be balanced. What I want to know is what is he going to cut and what tax breaks is he going to give businesses to make the state “business friendly?”
Also culpable in this is the mainstream media, news now is a profit center. There is money in the news business and they attract viewers by having sensational news topics, the boring details just don’t sell ads. They don’t want to ask probing questions and let the candidates avoid answering the questions because if they force the candidate to answer the questions they might not get another interview or by shut out “press briefings.”
What we as voters have to do is our research, take time to understand the issues. How many of us know the answer to the question that stumped the Libertarian candidate about Aleppo. How many of us know the issues that face social Security and what are the remedies that have been proposed and how it will affect us? How many of us know how the state and federal budget is being spent. Did you know that all of the health and human services are about 9% of the total budget while spending on the military is over 50% of the budget?
People tend to criticize our legislators but if you ever sit in a committee hearing, the legislators are trying to understand the topic which is a lot more than some of the voters. Yes, the questions do tend to follow party lines but they are probing questions. Once a hearing for the non-discrimination someone who testified against the bill as he was getting up from the chair sat back down and said that he that the hearing was totally different than what he expected and he got to hear both sides of the issue.
I say to you, learn both sides of the issues, I believe that many of you who read my blog are educated on the issues, but many other people do not.
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