Political Ads.

Last Sunday, I was watching my usual Sunday morning programs (ie. Meet The Press and This Week). Almost every commercial break included some political ad. Ya know, for County Commission or District Prosecutor or something. I have to say, I loathe these ads. What has happened to our political system? And are there people out there that are influenced by these ads? And if there are, why do we let these people vote? F' everyone's right to vote. Universal suffrage might need to be reconsidered.

What particularly ticks me off is the fact that there is no honest, reasonable dialogue. You can't possibly learn ANYTHING about a candidate from these ads. Most ads say things like (and these are real examples):
--"My opponent voted in favor of allowing our children easy access to sexually explicit and violent video games."
--"My opponent has been known to defend gang members and drug dealers, who sell drugs to our kids near their schoolyards."

Am I to believe that there are people out there voting in favor of more gang violence? More gang violence, please? Or that some parents prefer more sexually explicit video games? "Well, little Jimmy, I'd let you play this video game but there isn't enough cartoon sex." I also love personalizing the attack, as if the drug dealers are selling to YOUR kids at THEIR school.

But how do you respond to these ads? Do you actually use money and time in order to say things like, "Despite what my opponents claims, I am not in favor of more gang violence." That almost as assinine. But without the response, do people assume its truth or there is a secret to hide? A closetted, secret obsession for selling more drugs to kids?

Here is a list of things no one, in general, wants more of.
--gang violence
--SIDS
--low calorie, high crystal meth vending machines in our school cafeterias
--abortions (the GOP would love everyone to think this is the Democrat's position. I repeat, NO ONE WANTS MORE DOGGONE ABORTIONS! The method to reduce them is the real debate that no one even touches.)
--sending our jobs to Mexico (I hate cliches like this. Not even the Republicans want Americans to not work. No one wants this. Maybe the Democrats should realize a Hanes t-shirt made by a unionized, American worker would cost $32 as opposed to a 3-pack for $7).
--lies and deception
--pooping and peeing
--the terrorists, who hate freedom and liberty, to win (It is sick I need to address this. But this one is the biggest winner, I think. There are people out there that actually believe the "other" party wants the terrorists to win. NO ONE WANTS THIS! AND another thing, terrorists to do hate "freedom". They hate watching over 100,000 civilans die. They hate a foreign superpower occupying their country for 3 years. They hate not having electricity or running water or schools. They don't HATE freedom nore are they attacking OUR freedom.)
--less research for a cure for Parkinson's or MS (EVERYONE wants these cures. Again, the way to achieve is the debate.)
--babies on spikes
--and my favorite, voting in favor of not equipping or supporting our troops (what a line of bullshit. I heard Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) say this on Meet the Press. What a douchebag. Everyone supports the troops. What kind of an asshole wouldn't? Those men and women give of their time and life. But voting against a spending bill means you disagree with the way the money is being managed or spent. You are not voting to "put our troops in harm's way." If the spending bill didn't pass, the next day they would have another bill ready to vote on. It would get through... with... dare I say it... compromise!)

Ah, I love soapboxes. Had to get it out of my system. I can't handle election years. My bullshit meter just goes haywire.