Hello reader. Long time no see. As usual, work has been sucking my creative energies out of this blog. Right now, we're in the midst of drafting budget proposals for next year - it's intense, high pressure stuff. It also means that I sit at my desk agonizing over numbers all day. Anybody out there who knows me will tell you - Erik does not like numbers. I need a release. Thank goodness for this blog.
It's almost November, and that means the elections are not far away. Being a political junky, I have enjoyed following a variety of campaigns. My love for politics is somewhat akin to the masses of rednecks who attend NASCAR races. I watch it for the crashes. I want to see which politician goes down in a great, blazing fireball. I love the mudslinging. As Robert DeNiro says in "Raging Bull," "Now that's...ENTERTAINMENT."
Some people watch NASCAR. I follow politics. Don't ask me why.
Part of what makes Nantucket (my primary residence now) so neat is the incredibly isolated, small - town culture that exists here in the offseason. Make no mistake about it - Nantucketers do take state and national politics seriously. But local politics are what really fire them up. It's classic New England, really. New England is the home of the classic American "town meeting." It is through town meetings that we experience politics in the raw - the people come to speak, and they are heard. I remain thoroughly convinced that this is what our founding fathers cherished most. God help us if the town meeting dissapears.
In any case, one of the major local issues involved a Republican primary. Two men, Rick Barros, and Doug Bennet, were battling for a shot at a State Senate seat. The district in question encompassed the Cape and Islands. Bennet lost to Barros in a landslide a month ago.
I became fascinated with Bennett's campaign a few months back. He currently serves as a member of the board of selectmen here on Nantucket. He is relatively young. He is also controversial - everyone became livid when he used the town meeting as an opportunity to promote his campaign. The board's meetings were broadcast on local TV, and he made a campaign speech, much to the chagrine of a few people.
Bennet did not seem to have a ton of money for the race. His strategy was to sit in one of the many traffic circles that dot cape cod. He held up large "Bennett for Senate" signs, waving at people as they drove by.
That, in a nutshell, was his campaign.
A quick visit to Bennett's website reveals a campaign that was basically a very thin shell of political ambition. Let's start with the main page. It's a shot of Doug pointing at the us, in an "Uncle Sam wants YOU..." pose. Cheesey. Barf.
Longing to know more about this enigmatic memeber of Nantucket's board of selectmen, I went and looked at his campaign platform. Here's all he had to say:
As your State Senator, I will fight for initiatives that solve these areas:
1. AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE
2. LOW TAXES
3. SOLUTIONS TO SKYROCKETING UTILITY & ENERGY COSTS
4. LESS HOME INSURANCE RATES
OK, great. You're a man of the people. Now tell me how you're going to do it.
But there was nothing to be found.
However, the real laugher comes in his "famous quotes" section. I expected to find inspirational quotes from his favorite role models. He's a Republican, so I figured there had to be a Reaganism or two, maybe even a Goldwater quote, or, gasp, Dubyah quote. Imagine my surprise when I found that every quote came from Doug! Here they are, uncensored.
There’s something I can’t explain that’s pulling me in that direction. Some people call it guts. I don’t know what to call it. All I want to do is lead. I believe that’s what my purpose here on this planet is. It’s to serve as a leader for the people…”
“I’m in my physical prime. I’m in marathon-shape. I will out-stamina my opponents and I’m as shrewd as the hawk…”
“Our government officials refuse to allow the buck to stop with them. Too many of our elected officials are in it for themselves and that of special interests. Their hands are in each others pockets and all they care about is keeping power through repression of you and me, the People. Presently, Beacon Hill is run by insurance salesmen, lawyers, and big corporations. There’s a need for those in my generation to step up and accept these leadership burdens and this is what I’m doing...”
Shrewd as a hawk! Marathon shape! Float like a buttahfly, sting like a bee! You can't catch me, I'm Mohammad Ali!
This may shock and amaze ya! But I'm gon' beat Joe Frazier!
Sorry, I couldn't help it. The arrogance and emptiness in those quotes was just too much for me. I couldn't tell if I was listening to a politician, or professional athlete.
What ever happened to the humble servant of the people?
Do you see where I'm going with this? Doug actually BELIEVED that he could win with a campaign that ignored the issues, lacked clarity, and ignored substance. All he gave us were some photos, some sentence fragments that he called a "platform," and some simple, self - promotional quotes.
Forgive me for sounding like a pessimist here, but honest to goodness, is this really what politics has become? I'm inclined to say yes.
We live in the era of the soundbite. If we can't communicate it in 10 seconds, it's not worth saying it at all. Look no further than the governor's race here in Massachusetts. The debates are a joke. Oh, they might talk about the issues occasionally, but it's all about can talk the loudest - be it Christy Mihos shouting down Kerry Heally, or Grace Ross and her gap toothed mug telling us to vote for her when we know she doens't have a snowball's chance in hell. Deval Patrick has tried to stay positive, but even he has been sucked into the trap of mudslinging. He took a shot at Heally's intelligence the other night, saying something to the effect of, "I wish you would discuss the issues, instead of just reaching into your right wing playbook."
Now that's entertainment.
It's not what politics should be.
Politicians today seem more obsessed with HOW they say something, rather than WHAT they're actually saying. And the thing is, as voters, we're buying into it. It's what we want to hear.
Doug Bennett and his empty shell of a campaign lost in a landslide. I find some solace in that. But I am nonetheless disturbed by the dumbing down of the popular discourse in politics today. If we continue on our current track, who knows where we'll be?
Perhaps Doug will win.
But don't worry, there's still hope for us.
Visit www.dougbennettstatesenate.com to have your intelligence insulted. Maybe that'll motivate you to kick our leaders in the ass. Hard.
1 comment:
Haha - what a joke of a campaign! Sadly, I do think a lot of people run just for the recognition or status of public office, rather then what should drive people into politics -- the desire to promote positive change and give back to the nation. Look at our President -- can you honestly say he's there because he loves to SERVE? The ass goes on vacation every other week.
However, I have to disagree with you on the "it's not what you say, but how you say it" thing. That's really nothing new -- it's been the name of the game since the ancient Romans. It's what allowed that syphallis-ridden nutjob Hitler convince arguably normal people to murder several million people.
But it's also not necessarily a bad thing -- Clinton's amazing ability to speak has convinced many of the world's wealthiest citizens to cough up change in the name to peace, hunger, enviromental research, etc, etc. The guy could read stats from a ticker tape and the crowd would hang on his every word.
Conversely, Bush could independantly create Peace On Earth tommorrow, but he'd still make it sound like the stupidest idea ever.
So I would say it has ALWAYS mattered how you say it, soundbyte society or not. Politicians are peddlers who sell ideas --
What WE should be doing is educating our society to be good consumers of ideas, and buy into smart deals rather than being had by lemons.
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