The Ideal Campaign

So after the debate last night, I was talking with a friend and we both agreed that neither candidate really gave any specific details on what their plans are for the next four years. Neither candidate really answered any question straight-forward. But that is a politician's way, right? But it got me thinking, what would the ideal campaign look like? Well, let me tell you what I think:

I go back and forth on the amount of money that is spent on campaigns. On one hand, it is a ridiculous amount of money. There was one quote I saw on twitter that read: "Almost a billion dollars have been spent on campaign ads so far. It's a good thing our schools & roads are in great shape or I'd be mad." Which is true. I'm sure there are far better ways to be spending this money. On the other hand, the money that is spent on those campaigns and on the ads, do help with those businesses and gives them a boost. Maybe we need to find a happy middle ground. Maybe there should be a limit on how much money a campaign can spend. At least then, the campaigns would be on a more level ground with each other.

I also think there should be no Political Action Committees (PACs). Or if these need to exist, there need to be more rules and regulations in place so that these make sense. This seems simple enough, right?

Next, I believe there should be no negative campaign ads. What's the point? It's dirty, messy and most of the time full of lying. Can you imagine what campaign ads would be like if you couldn't be negative to the other candidate? What a nice change and a refreshing thought! Candidates should only be able to talk about themselves, their records and their plans in their campaign ads. That way everyone gets the same message with hopefully more truth than the negative ads. Don't tell me what's wrong with the other candidate - tell me why I should vote for you. What you have done. What you want to do. That's how I want to make my political decisions.

Which leads me to the next point: candidates should not be allowed to promise anything. Yup. No promises. Tell me what you've already accomplished. Tell me what you HOPE to get done during your term. Tell me how you plan to get those things that you want accomplished. 

Because here's the thing. The President is only one man (and hopefully someday a woman!). He can only do so much by himself. That's the beauty of our country, no one man has the full power. He must be doing things by the law of the constitution and most things he wants to get done, he'll need the help of Congress. So its unrealistic to even make promises because you're going to run into roadblocks along the way. But tell us how you plan to get things accomplished. Tell me how you plan to work with a bipartisan Congress. I would much rather have a president that has told me what he wants to accomplish and how he's trying rather than a president that makes empty promises on a campaign trail that he has no way of getting done. 

Plus, empty promises are something that people are going to come back and attack you on those promises. Something that's happening with President Obama right now. He promised to cut the deficit by half in his first term and he wasn't able to accomplish that. And now Republicans are attacking him on it. And fairly so. But he had said, I want to try to cut the deficit... and failed, he might not be getting as much backlash. 
The other thing that bothers me on this point is that people only point on the promises that Obama has failed at. He has been able to keep many of his promises and has gotten a lot accomplished during his first term. Don't believe me? Check out this website. He has kept about 38% of his promises versus the 17% of promises broken. Not too shabby. 

Well there you have it. My ideal campaign. I would have put something in there about not allowing politicians to lie about things... but let's be honest. Would that ever happen? I mean, I don't want to put the fact-checkers out of work! 
So, think I'm living in a fantasy land? Well hey, a girl can dream, right?