Campaigns Reformed

Are you sick of the campaign bull shit? With the possible exception of the leeches known as political pundits and the advertising firms who reap in vast amounts of money to air inane ads I am willing to bet the answer is yes.
And the longer the campaigns the more time for hate mongers to spin their inevitable lies. Who would have believed “Swift Boating” would become a verb? And more importantly, why did the people behind those false statements and offensive slanders not pay for their crime? How did those ads help our country fall into the hands of such a moron? Perhaps we all fell asleep at the switch. We are all to blame so we must all find a way out of our rut and learn from history instead of blindly repeating it?
Here is one solution, or at least a start toward one. Let me know what you think and if you like the idea please pass it along to your friends and congressmen.
FROM NOW ON – NEW RULE:
Campaign season for major elections may start one year prior to the election in question and not a day earlier. This means that for a Presidential election the candidates throwing their hats in the ring may do so starting the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November one year before the election. This will also stop anyone from campaigning before the previous years elections have taken place.
Everyone who wishes to run for office may then campaign until the end of March. Monies donated to the campaigns may still be accepted but only a certain amount may be used for the campaigns. The amount may be indexed against inflation but these days both sides certainly should be able to get their respective points across for $100 million. This way the public will hear the message but not be sickened by it. Anything else the electorate needs to know about the candidates may be gleaned by watching or reading about the debates or by researching the previous public service records. Any excess money must be donated to charities. These charities must not be special interest groups or PACs. To be fair generally the parties should agree to donate to charities the other side would like to support.
The month of April is then primary month. All primaries must be held within the middle two weeks of the month and be over by April 21st. The parties may then hold their respective conventions the end of April or any time in May. Then the head to head battle of those left standing should begin.
Both or all parties then have the months of June, July, August, September, and October to debate, stump, and generally campaign to state their cases. The general election should be held as always on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. And the winner shall be determined by the sum total of the popular vote. There shall be no more electoral college.
I think we all need a break from the ever increasing campaign season which this time started just after the current President stole his second election.
And that brings me to the second NEW RULE:
We must come up with a fool proof method of voting and having the votes counted. Read my lips, no more chads. Companies with obvious ties to certain political parties or groups MUST NEVER BE ALLOWED TO RIG ELECTIONS AGAIN. Not that they ever did mind you, I’m just saying…
And since we will never be able to do this I propose that we go back to the old method of pulling the lever or using paper ballots with bonded security guards at all polling places across America. I love our elderly population, in fact I am quickly becoming a member of the group according to the SOBs at AARP but I am never happy about seeing people older than dirt in charge of securing our votes.

Politics 2008 Style - Why Bother?

It is a long known fact that all politics is local. This means that you can take all the polls, and pollsters as far as I am concerned and place them where the sun don't shine. People will vote the way they feel in a manner that concerns them, their family, and their community and in that order of importance. And they will do so behind that curtain that hides the lever they pull that is the only true poll that matters.
But unfortunately there are some who are influenced by others. They don't seem to have their own opinions or at least are not sure of them if they do. These people will change their minds based on what they believe to be the right thing to do merely because many others are doing so. This is quite unfortunate and has become increasingly dangerous as technology and the belief that the media is all knowledgeable continues to grow in the minds of the masses.
For example in a presidential election the media has agreed to hold off their "projected winners" of races in states until the polls in those states have closed. But they broadcast those winners nationally even if the percentage of votes counted is ridiculously small. You may a have a "winner" announced with less than 1% of the precincts reporting.
With huge states and electoral votes still undecided (and that is a whole other issue) Texans and Californian who may not have voted yet can turn on the television and find out that they candidate they wanted is very far behind. That could alter their vote especially if they want to join the crowd. The citizens of Hawaii must truly feel left out as they are 6 hours behind the Eastern Time Zone and 3 hours in back of California. By the time some Hawaiians vote the outcome is almost always moot.
Sometimes polls are so wrong as to be laughable. Just ask Truman, Dewey and the people of New Hampshire.
This should stop. Winners should not be projected until after ALL the nation's polls have closed. This way 'local politics' can stay that way and our nation, which is made up of 50 different States with tremendous numbers of districts within them and covers 6 time zones can be a little more fair to all the people.
Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about the primary situation. By the time some states hold their primaries many of the candidates that could have garnered support have long since dropped out of the race. They are victims of the opinions of people in states that had early primaries!
Why should Iowans decide for the rest of us who even gets a chance to run for the top job in America? The Iowa electorate makes up around .5% of the voters in the country. No offense Iowa but who the hell are you to filter out my candidate?
Just like the polls and pollsters telling those of us who were not polled how we think and who we should vote for so too are the early primary state results attempting to alter our opinions.
Perhaps it is time to just get rid of primaries. If a candidate wants to run then he or she should be able to. After all isn't this the land of opportunity? Isn't America the place where all dreams can come true if you work hard and stay focused?
New rules:
No more primaries!
No more electoral college.
No more polls. (If you are polled continue to give dumb answers. "I am supporting Alfred E. Neuman.")
And finally, New Rule: No more "projected Winners" until all polling places are closed.