I consider myself a student of politics and the underlying effects of political campaigns. I guess politics have interested me my whole adult life. Initially it was just Canadian politics and their campaigns, As the availability of information world wide changed so did my interest. I evolved from just looking at Canadian political campaigns and elections to those in every country I could find information on. The information age we live in has allowed me to study campaigns and elections from over 30 countries. As big a student or junkie as I am the one thing I would never do is run for any political office. The reason for that is I am a very private person and given the craziness and insanity that has invaded politics my privacy would be invaded also.
What I have seen over the years, as the information age evolved, is most political elections and campaigns have evolved with the times. Others haven't changed in the least, their elections and campaigns are basically the same as a hundred years ago. A hundred years ago you needed months and months to be able to inform all the population. I am not talking about how they elect their leaders, it's about the campaigns and length of campaigns. In most countries where elections are done democratically the campaigns are short affairs, usually 3-4 month. That length of time is more than adequate because of the information age we live in. In that length of time parties can decide on their candidates and inform the population. They flood radio, tv, and internet their policies and vision for the future, and end up with fair elections that mostly benefit their countries.
When you extend the length of campaigns, in our information age, you invite the craziness and insanity to invade the process. The longer the campaign the greater it invades. Right now the American Presidential elections are on going. They are a unique example of the excess of campaign length. I watch about 4 hours of news, just about every day, and see the craziness and insanity that has happened over the last 40 years. Both parties insult and disparage each other without a thought of honesty. They spent about 80% of the time, lying, and insulting each, other with glee. This happens strictly because of the length of the campaigns. If the campaigns were 3-4 months they would only have time to present the differences in policies and their vision for the future. They say the campaigns are "only" 12-14 months. This isn't a statement of complete fact, campaigning starts about 3-4 months after an election and increases with each day. This brings out the craziness and insanity that no other country sees. This is proven by the about 30% of the population believing every word that comes out of a proven lier and con man's mouth.
Who or what is to blame for the wild fire of craziness and insanity that is so prevalent, people yes partly, bu mostly the media. A fire needs 3 things, fuel, an ignition source, and oxygen, otherwise it dies. The fuel is created by the roughly 4 years of campaigning. The ignition source is the candidates who think the insults, rudeness, and outright lies are more important than truth. The oxygen is the news media ( all of them). The news media is mostly to blame for how bad things have become in the last 40 years. They provide the oxygen that fuels the craziness and insanity. The examples are clear when you open your eyes. Walz made a statement in the past using "in war" rather than "of war". Since he was asked to run for Vice President it has been in the news and discuss for hundreds of hours when you combine all the news outlets. Yes it probably should of been brought up and discussed, but for no more than a day, then moved on from, and political differences and visions discussed. Trump there are so many lies that are treated the same, in the news and discussed over and over again for hundreds of hours. This ONLY feeds the craziness and insanity and promotes the people with mental problems to act, like the sick individual who tried to shoot Trump.
How do you stop the craziness and insanity, like with any fire the easiest way is to remove the oxygen. If all the news media stopped promoting the lies, miss speak, insults, and utterly stupid statement made by politicians the craziness and insanity who mostly disappear. If they spent their time discussing only the policies and visions of each party, which is actually their job, things will change. Yes there would still be the people with mental issues but the rest would be gone. Will it happen, likely not in America, ratings are more important than truth and the people.
Americans need to remember something I read years ago. The easiest way to cause the downfall of a nation is from within.
Sorry for my triate but sometimes a person has to stand on one side of a fence or the other. When you straddle a fence all you end up with is a sore crotch.
Graham
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