Elections are coming up, and that means one thing: irritating, mudslinging campaigns. The bad thing is that they seem to be getting more and more annoying as the years go by. I think that this year, the campaigns have finally reached their peak at excruciating. They are even worse than Roseanne’s new talk show.

I cannot help but wonder: Why do politicians have to be so “in your face?” Why do they use such dirty tactics?

What I mean by “in your face” is the propaganda. Everywhere I turn it seems like there is some sort of political sign or an opponent-bashing commercial on television. This non-stop push for votes has become ruthless.

I think that campaigns would be much more effective and tolerable if they would remember some simple guidelines.

First off, less is more. Have you ever driven past a field or yard with 50 signs clustered together for just one politician? What an irritating eyesore! Is it truly necessary to have so many signs with identical messages? Come on, we get the point; over and over and over …

Seeing the same thing over and over again gets annoying really fast. I can prove it. The statement “over and over again” has been used a couple times already. Why don’t I say it again, “over and over again,” and again “over and over again.” Isn’t that irritating? I even get tired of typing it.

Basically, one sign per yard, or a couple in a large field, is more than enough.

And the fewer commercials the better. This leads to my second point: stick to the issues. Stop the dirty politics.

Every one of the political commercials is phony. It seems like they are used by candidates just to bash their opponents, and nothing more. Actually, it doesn’t seem like that, it is JUST like that.

Last night, I saw four commercials in a row. The first was Tom Vilsack accusing Jim Lightfoot of wrongdoing, then Lightfoot goes back and accuses Vilsack of doing something else and so on and so forth.

After seeing four of these commercials, I thought that I was going to lose my food service. How childish can we get? It was like some grade school game of simple-minded retorts: “I know you are, but what am I?” I think that it takes a bigger man not to respond to mindless bashing which avoids the issues. I wonder if they are proud of these commercials.

It is pretty obvious that the issues are not important in these commercials. Every one of them has to do with belittling an opponent to avoid the issues or leaving a little piece of advice like, “Don’t change horses in mid-stream.”

I refuse to vote for anyone who uses these phony commercials — which pretty much rules out every candidate.

These commercials would be a lot more effective if the candidates didn’t reek of insincerity and hypocrisy and if they focused on the issues rather than what their opponents are saying about them.

When did the issues stop counting for something? Is it all about who has the best slogan? Is that what America cares about?

I hope not.

If it is, then our country is in worse trouble than I thought. Without having real guidelines to get into office, we will continue to be overrun with petty, corrupt individuals.

Americans need to look past the commercials and the dirty politics.

Granted, slogans and flashy commercials help us to remember a candidate better. They should not, however, represent the whole political platform. The issues are what count.

The candidates need to spend their time talking about the issues, rather than wasting their money on yard signs and venomous commercials.

We have lost what really matters in the political race, and with it, we have lost the candidates that really matter.

---

Jessica Bittner is a freshman in journalism and mass communication from Council Bluffs.