It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning brown and it’s getting colder. And it’s time for everyone’s favorite thing: campaign ads. These ads are running for everything from gubernatorial elections to elections for Senate and Congress.

The role of congressmen and senators is to represent the people of their respective area. But let’s analyze this for a second; are they really the image of the public?

Now, many would expect me to go on in a tangent and talk about the actions of these politicians once they get into power. However, there is a deeper reason for the lack of representation, and that is all that happens before they get elected.

The issue is that the resources needed to be in these positions go against the idea of representing your respective community. The big dividing factor between these politicians and regular American citizens is money.

As someone who loves to watch TV a lot, I know there tends to be an annoying amount of televised ads that are campaigning for all types of people. In 2002 3,600 ads were aired that cost $12.8 million, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. To air a single ad once, it would cost approximately $355.55. I don’t know about you, but with the rate that I have been seeing these commercials, these politicians must have a massive money supply to keep it up.

Now, it’s not the money that causes the lack in representation, but money can be used to hurt an opponent who might be better for the job. For example, let’s say I wanted to run for Congress, but I’m not the richest person out there. Thus my opponent who is able to buy all sorts of campaign ads would undoubtedly win because I just don’t have enough to keep up. Therefore the common men and women who might be able to better represent the public are being kept away from representing the public.

One could say that it is perfectly OK for these politicians to use the money they already have to fund their campaign. I don’t think we should be restricted from using our own money. The problem with this counterargument is politicians don’t use their own money. Politicians gain funding through political action groups. The problem is that PACs are often corporations that are funding politicians who would better serve their own interests; when you think about, it’s like a bribe.

We need to analyze these aspects of leaders when we go to the polls to vote for the candidates for congress, senate, governor and even president. The burden is on us, as voters, to really think about the issues and look behind all of the campaign ads and everything else a candidate can throw at a viewer.

Although the rich candidate may have all the resources in the world to try to secure your vote, he or she may not be the candidate who can best represent you if they are always trying to lure you with what they can with their money. It’s sort of like luring a child with some candy to do something, only you wouldn’t want to base the decision for your leader based on something like that, would you?