A Final Look at the 2012 Election


 A final Diggapedia post on the 2012 election:

Irrespective of outcome, the biggest loser is the voter.  As the global proponent of democracy we are the epitome of do as is say, not as I do.  We are skeptical of elections in other countries claiming they are neither ‘free nor fair’, but when the same international body used to judge a nation’s electoral fairness is not only banned in a dozen U.S. states, these monitors are also threatened with arrest.  What are we hiding?  When poorer countries like Mexico and India can invest $Billions in biometric technology to insure fair elections and Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela has electronic voting machines and we have a patchwork of the archaic and antiquated. I say enough is enough.  The time has come for a new voting rights act, a national independent bureau for voting standards.  Those that believe in state’s rights might balk at such a notion, but accepting the status quo is not a practical solution.

One of the problems with the voting process is the large number of ballot initiatives and referendums that slow the polling process down.  Now I believe in citizens having strong voices in policy, but I have a problem with placing state constitutional changes in the hands of a rather ignorant electorate when we have already chosen our elected officials.  I want active voters, not necessary activist voters easily swayed by special interests and big money.  If you are an elected legislature, then legislate.  In Arizona, sales tax increases have been placed on ballots and not legislated by the elected officials.  If the state legislature and governor cannot deal with simple things such as revenue and spending, what good are they?  Yes states can be the laboratories of democracy, I just don’t want mine to be the meth lab.

Negative ads is redundant.  With all of the money that poured into the election the overwhelming amount was spent on negative ads at the local, state, and federal levels.  I am not a Pollyannish naïve Kumbaya singing ‘why can’t we all get along’ optimist, but to think that the day that campaign ads that promote a candidate’s record, accomplishments, beliefs, visions, or goals has come and gone is a disappointment.

So now that those aforementioned political ads are now longer be broadcast, we’re back to ambulance chasers, Empire Flooring, Wayne’s World quality car dealership promotions, and ‘we buy your gold’ advertisements.  Not sure what is worse.

At the end of the day, we have suffered through a two year long election cycle featuring campaigns based on hate, fear, and greed.  I know the nominating process is grueling but watching Republican candidates try to out Tea Party one another with their anti-Obama hate, social conservative views, and guns guns guns rhetoric did not help the country.  I also single out the ridiculous GOP debates that were moderated by stooges and governed by idiotic rules.  Jon Huntsman summed it up best on Sunday when he said the GOP needed to be more concerned about big ideas and less about the President’s birth certificate. 

And finally, has there ever been a better surrogate than Bill Clinton?

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