" . . . and I approve this message."

 

If I had the proverbial nickel for every time I have heard that phrase over the past six (?) months or so, I could make a sizable contribution to my favorite charity. And there is the  equally ubiquitous phrase, "This ad has been paid for by ______.".

Since 1948, I have observed elections with some degree of awareness (there were others; I simply was not engaged).  I do not remember an election campaign so filled with rancor as this year's - - -  and not just the Presidential race.  Judging by the allegations repeated ad nauseam , "my opponent is the scum of the earth and  needs to be banished to the outer reaches of the cosmos because  (s)he is not competent to be the ---FILL IN THE OFFICE-------------------------- !"  Actually, one of the nastiest political commercials I have witnessed was in a Senatorial campaign in our state in the early 1990's.

And the rhetoric of the candidates has amplified the disagreements within the electorate.  Sign pillaging and destruction unfortunately has a long history but I do not recall its being "legitimatized" before in this manner: an announcer at an area radio station in giving crime reports noted the vandalism from a local person's yard of signs for a particular candidate and then ad libbed, "who would want them ?"

Having earlier decided to write about this topic, I  was interested to learn today of the efforts of a 13 year old girl in Tennessee. Hannah-Kate McFadden became disenchanted with the toxicity of the campaign and drafted "The Candidate Pledge".  For more about her efforts, see  www.thecandidatepledge.com . Naive ? Maybe. Read the Pledge  before dismissing it. And a few politicians have signed, promising to adhere.  When I read her Pledge, I said, " . . . I approve of this message !"

     Satchel