With the presidential election finally in the rear view mirror, I can now rest easy knowing I won’t see any more political commercials bashing potential candidates for at least another four long years.
While some may find this tactic as a way to better familiarize themselves with an opposing candidate, I find it completely unnecessary. A two second Google search will suffice if looking for the shortcomings or even strengths of a certain politician. Along with that, interested voters could have watched one of the numerous debates they had before Election Day.

These commercials dirty the act of campaigning. I know this country’s presidential line-up is already at times less than clean and honest, but adding to it won’t make anything better. I honestly don’t know why candidates waste their time with such television and radio advertisements. Instead of doing that, they could be building up their own credibility. Plus, if they didn’t retaliate I feel it would give them a sense of dignity and respect.

But yet, the anti-politician commercials persist. They may do it out of fear that they will seem weak to voters if they don’t respond to another candidate’s commercials but I argue saying that running such advertisements make them look even weaker.

Promoting someone else’s problems is just a way to keep eyes off of a poor campaign, I feel. If political parties can’t think of enough positive things to say about their candidate then they aren’t doing their jobs correctly.

Another thing that sickens me is the constant chatter on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Everyone knows one person that is just relentless in trying to sway others’ votes. This politician doesn’t stand for this, this other politician promised that. It is so wearing on the people reading their posts. While it is partially my fault for allowing such nonsense to litter my computer, a good portion of the blame needs to be placed on the person posting all of this crap. People who take the time to vote won’t waste their time figuring out who other people are voting for, or at least they shouldn’t.

I know, personally, that no such attempts to reverse my personal opinion would work. While I may value my friend’s opinion, at the end of the day it comes back to me and what I believe is the right way to go. On the contrary, I feel posting such anti-political commentary or commercials hurt people’s chances of getting others to switch their vote if they think differently.

The thing is, if I already believe in one candidate and my friend smears him over the internet, I still know nothing about the other candidate they are supporting. That’s my biggest issue. If they want to convince me on another candidate, show me what they stand for and how they measure up to the other candidates running. That way I will have a better idea of who they are as a leader and a politician instead of just knowing one candidate’s shortcomings.

Also, it’s not about the perfect candidate. I think it is universally understood that no one is perfect. People are going to stand for what they stand for. The idea of voting isn’t finding one person that they completely agree with because that will never happen. It’s about affiliating with the person that they have the most in common with.