Arthur C. Donart, Ph.D., wrote this essay.
It’s Primary time and the political ads are on the air. Unfortunately, these 30 second spot commercials do persuade voters. That is a danger to our Democracy, because these adds are frequently an appeal to our emotions and devoid of any factual material. They are designed to ”sell” the candidate. We’d be better off if they were selling soap. We would also be better off if we paid attention to the candidates’ experience and their position on the issues. Here are some examples.
Aurora, IL, Mayor Richard Irvin runs an ad saying, “I beat Michael Madigan.” One might reasonably ask, “How did he do that?” Madigan represented the Illinois 27th District from 1971 until 1983, and District 30 from 1983 to 2021. Madigan never ran for Mayor of Aurora, and, obviously, Mr. Irwin never defeated him in District 27 or 30. However, it sounds good to say, “I beat Michael Madigan.” What Mr. Irwin does not tell you is, who is funding his campaign. Ken Griffin, a billionaire, has donated $45 million–so far–to Mr. Irwin’s campaign. And who is Kenneth C. Griffin, you ask? He just happens to be a hedge fund Manager. Draw your own conclusions.
There are ten candidates seeking the GOP nomination for Governor. Making a search about all ten certainly will take some time. Of course, all will fight crime and corruption, but none of them will tell you where the corruption is or their recipe for fighting crime. All will promise to “Cut Taxes,” but they will not tell you what programs they will cut, in order to pay for their tax cut. Before you vote, you might want to know the answers to these questions.
Understandably, people are fed up with politics. We have our oligarchs. What we do not have, is a thriving Democracy. When the U. S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, they ruled against 70% of the people and in favor of a vocal minority. What is so galling about this is, that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brent Kavanaugh both testified that Roe v Wade was “settled law” during their confirmation hearings. Did they flat-out lie or just change their minds? I doubt that we will ever know.
It was the Supreme Court in Citizens United v FEC 2010 ruling that made corporations “people” and money “free speech.” Since that ruling, money has played a huge role in our politics.
However, I’m not a pessimist. We can, if we take the time and make the effort, be more knowledgeable about the candidates, before we cast a vote. We can search out unbiased information, by going to Vote Smart and Ballotpedia and ignoring the TV ads.