Negative Works

So I've been watching the GOP primary cycle with a lot more interest than usual this year, and one of the themes has been these amazing institutions known as "Super PACs", which can raise and spend money on campaigns without any limits except for a very loose requirement about not coordinating with the candidates they support.  The fun thing about this recently has been the Super PACs running really nasty, inaccurate ads, the candidates suffering from the attacks and calling for them to stop, and then claiming inability to coordinate as an excuse for not interfering with anything really offensive.  I have to think it's got to be an amazing time to be a candidate - your friends can say all the really terrible things you want to say anyway, and you get to wash your hands of the whole thing while still getting the votes.

I've also watched a few episodes of The Bachelor recently (other people turn it on, I happen to be around ... you know).  Like a Super PAC ad, The Bachelor is mainly notable for how it plays on the worst side of human nature - desperate women, arrogant men, petty fights, shallow relationships, and an obsession with superficial beauty and relationships.  Now, the only times in my life that I had working access to TV were during parts of my childhood and adolescence in Utah, which is a state that doesn't see political ads because we're all going to vote for the Republican anyway.  But I imagine the power of these Super PAC ads is similar to The Bachelor in at least one way - it's really hard to stop watching.  It's fascinating.  Disturbing, yes.  Degrading, yes. But absolutely fascinating.  It's like talking to someone who has a huge booger visible just inside their nostril - extremely awkward, but also impossible to break away from.  You just have to watch.

I don't know why it's so easy to watch this kind of stuff.  I just know that it is.  I think maybe we just love to hate it.  And I think, even if we say we despise it, it affects us.  And it will probably change the way people vote.

The reason I'm writing about this is because Gov. Huntsman asked for a return to civility in political discourse when he dropped out of the race.  And that sounded like a really nice thing to me.  I would like my debates to be about issues, my ads to be based in fact, and my election experience to be about ideas instead of people.  But, after thinking about it, and reflecting on my experience with programming like The Bachelor, I don't believe this kind of political campaign is going away anytime soon.  Especially in its current form, where candidates get to smear their opponents and then blame it on their crazy Super PACs - it's the best of both worlds for them, and they'd be crazy - or abnormally decent - to back away from it now.

So, what are we supposed to do?  These ads will air, these ads will change the campaign, these ads will bring people into and out of office.  Can we do anything about it?  Maybe, maybe not.  I guess my point is that the solution isn't to simply condemn this kind of politics for being sordid, petty, and vulgar ... because that is actually their strength.

So, negative works.  It's not going anywhere.  And I think it will probably end up changing election results for the worse.  Not a very uplifting observation, but I think it's accurate enough.

I don't know how to fix negative ads.  I feel like they'll do our elections harm.  I guess the only thought I have on the matter is that the answer probably isn't in attacking the ads - I think they thrive on being despised.  If the ads harm democracy, maybe the solution is to balance them out with something that helps democracy.  If we can't get rid of them, maybe we can compensate for them by doing a little more good.

Maybe we can beat them if we take the time to think about what we believe, have respectful conversations with people we disagree with, make our decisions, and vote.