Why All The Negativity in Politics?

For the past few months, political campaign ads have been everywhere. It is absolutely astounding how much money has been and continues to be spent on these ads. Another part of the ads I find very disturbing is their negativity. So negative, in fact, that to me they come close to being hateful. A politician’s voting record is open to the public but I feel that quite often their record is misconstrued and misleading.

As an example, if a member of any governing office votes against a particular issue, my first question is why did they vote that way? Was it because of the issue itself or because of something in the bill that has nothing to do with what is being voted on? Perhaps a yes vote would also be giving approval to something that carries with it a negative impact to the citizens.

When a candidate for office runs an ad concerning their opponent’s personal history I would ask what does a traffic ticket issued 30 years before have anything to do with the present time?

I would like to know why a microscope is used on political candidates yet when a person calls to report suspected fraud the attitude borders on “so what’s the big deal?”

Political ads should address a candidate’s reasons for wanting to be in office, what they hope to accomplish, changes they feel need to be made, instead of being used to destroy their opponent.

I wonder if candidates ever consider what they are teaching children by the ads they run. Don’t fool yourself. Whether people realize it or not, children do absorb information from ads. And when it comes to current issues high school students really do pay attention to what’s going on. Not only that, but they are at a time of their lives when they are beginning to form opinions on what is happening in the world they live in.

Often I hear people in politics say they want to see a better world for everyone -- perhaps they should keep that in mind when campaigning for office and use their ads to do just that.