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Americans don't really understand how this system works.

This article/interview comes from a 13 year city mayor who is seeking the office of Governor in his un-named state. He agreed to this interview and requested that we don't use his name or his state due to the upcoming election. He wants to clear up some misconceptions about how the political machines works and tell the American public some things that they won't see that happens behind the scenes in politics.

Campaigns - First of all, it is well known that if you don't have money or a way to get it, and lots of it, you can't run for office. In order to get the kind of money required for even a small mayoral race, you have to have supporters and contacts. These supporters and contacts are not pouring money into someone's campaign because they necessarily like the individual. They do it in order to get something in return. So, any candidate (who was not rich at that onset and using their own money) who runs for a political office, already owes someone before they even register to run. They have already agreed to use the power of the office they seek to repay someone with favors. One hand washes the other! No matter how good a person's character or moral standards, they are politicians and this is how it works folks. So, anyone running for office has already made deals with supporters that might not be the right, just, or in the best judgment of the constitutes (you and me) who actually vote them into office. 

Debates - Debates are when candidates meet in a public forum to discuss the issues. Yeah, right! Modern debates have turned into shows like American Idol. I can't stand them. What really makes me mad is the time limits that are imposed on the candidates, usually by the media who is covering the debate. How in the world can a person like Obama or McCain possibly describe how they plan on taking care of our failing economy in 3 minutes? It can't be properly done! Candidates who are faced with time limits on responses, usually pull up their canned statements about the issue. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to reform, I'm going to re-align, I'm going to.... What they never say is what impact their actions are going to have on us. How are they going to pay for the changes they are suggesting? They never fully tell you. It's a tit for tat meeting. The media is much to blame for the results of these debates.

Listen folks, debates should be conducted more like job interviews for the office they seek. Yep, let me ask them some un-canned, unplanned questions. Want to see expressions of confusion hit their faces? Why isn't there a meeting of the candidates where people can call in their questions and have them honestly answered, with NO time limits posted on them. Then and only then will we see exactly how they plan to do what it is that they are saying they will do once in office. I'd like to see a hometown meeting with no time limits where the candidates can be asked anything! Anything about their personal lives, their affiliations, their plan of action, their beliefs, their morals (if they have any) and questions that produce answers that are not canned that will tell us exactly who we are dealing with. Until debates work more like this, they are a waste of time and serve nothing to helping Americans decide who to vote for.

Have you ever noticed that right after a debate, the media lines up both democrats and republicans who are so called professionals who disect exactly how they interpret how something was said. They don't hear a word of the debate, but tell you everything in the world about the candidate's body language and mannerisms. The media spends more time and effort telling you how something was said than it took the candidates to say it in the first place. They tell you what striking blows one candidate delivered to the other. They talk extensively about how the facial expressions tell more of what they mean than the actual words spoken. HogWash! The candidate are just standing there repeating the same canned statements they have practiced in their speeches. It never changes! When it's the same old line time after time, what difference does it possibly make as to how it was said? It don't!

These so called media experts sit there with all their opinions about who won what and how it affects the way the public should look at them as candidates. The media can sway voters to vote for a monkey if they spend enough time and energy dissecting the way he eats a banana! Debates like the ones we have today do nothing to help regular Americans understand where a candidate stands on the issues.

One other thing this candidate mentioned as part of any campaign was instant damage control. Yes, campaign managers know their candidate and know about issues that could adversely affect their campaign, if they were to leak out to the public. They have contingency plans already developed to counter any bad information that might become a problem. He went on to mention that every candidate uses this and they all have something that could adversely affect their efforts. This is the one thing that the opposition digs for. Who ever discovers a skeleton in the closet of another candidate, has grounds to bring it out to in order to discredit the opposition. Mud Slinging at it's best! If a campaign manager knows all of this, why don't we? The answer is obvious. We wouldn't vote for them if we knew about it. This is something that candidates should have to disclose before they are even registered to run. Yes, I have a personal bankruptcy filed back in 1986 or my daughter had an illegitimate child when she was 17. Enough said here!

Polls - Don't listen to any poll unless you know exactly who conducted the poll and the reason they conducted it. Know who was asked for their opinion. What part of the country were they from? Were they white collar or blue collar workers? Exactly how it was the poll conducted? Were there any controls used in the poll. Controls are what leans most polls one way or anther. Controls are the factors used to eliminate certain responses for one reason or another. Controls are put into place in order to produce the result that the poll takers want to get. If you see a poll that says controls were instituted, it's worthless for telling you what is really going on.

Polls are good for predicting who has more support in a race, or are they? I conducted a poll on a national sports web site of 1000 sport fans only. The question I asked was "Who will you vote for in the upcoming election? Obama who plans to hurt national sports with more taxes and regulation or McCain who will offer sports agencies with tax cuts and deregulation of government in their sanctioning bodies?" Well, the overall winner was, of course, McCain, even though this is not his real stand on sporting agencies. In fact, neither of the Presidential candidates have ever mentioned sports in America as an issue. Now I can say that I've polled 1000 Americans and 93% were for McCain! See how a poll can be made to say what the media (in this case me) wants it to say. Polls are useless in predicting anything except more polls. When the New York Times post it's poll results that Obama is out front by 8%, CNN conducts one that shows McCain is winning by 13%. Then comes Fox News with a poll that shows a dead heat for both candidates. See, they aren't what they are made out to be. Candidates rely on polls to increase the amount of money in their campaigns. That's right! If they suffer some in a national poll, they automatically raise more money to fight it. So if a poll shows one candidate is slipping in numbers, don't believe it, it's just a way to gain more support and more money.

You have to make up your own mind on which candidate you want working for you! That's right, anyone in a public office works for you. You pay their income with your taxes. They work for you and millions more who put them in office. Don't ever let them forget that! Look at a candidate for what they are. They are all players of a game that we as citizens know little about. They all make deals that helps them which in turn helps the special interest groups who support them. That is how it works from the Mayor's office to the White House.

Lastly, my Dad used to say that public offices should be limited to one term of no more than 4 years. He said that it takes a new politician at least 2 years to learn how the system works and another 2 years to learn how to personnally gain from it. After that, we don't need them in that office ever again.

Thanks,

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