What SNL has Helped Me Realize

Last night, after homecoming, I was relaxing, rehydrating, and watching Saturday Night Live (SNL).  SNL opened, like it does after every presidential debate, with a satire sketch of the debate.  The sketch showed the candidates not answering questions, arguing over whose facts are right, and getting very agressive with eachother over trivial things.  Now, SNL may have employed some hyperbole, and while it was still amusing, it also made me think about the way this election is unfolding.

The presidential elections of 2004 and 2008, the only ones I can remember, candidates argued about the issues, used rhetoric to try and win votes, and even ran some attack ads on TV.  This year, however, the candidates have fought about their records on the issues, substituted rhetoric in place of serious answers at debates, and the attack ads have been out of control. 

I believe the problems with the United States' electoral process today stems from multiple things.  The first of those things is that candidates aren't forced to answer the hard questions during debates.  When they are asked a question about a particular issue, they simply repeat the part of their stump speech about that issue.  They make blanket statements such as Romney saying, "I know what it takes to..." and Obama saying, "We said we would go after Al Qaeda, and we did..."  These things are simply appeals to pathos that the candidates and their teams think will win them the election.  The American people need to speak up and demand that candidates answer the question asked of them at a debate, that they should not be able to move on until the candidate answers the question fully. 

Another issues in the electoral process currently is the Super Pacs and unrestricted money not tied to a campaign.  These Super Pacs spend almost all their money on attack ads, which has cause an unrelentless assault on the American people via the airwaves.  I can barely turn on my TV without hearing Obama, or Romney, or Tim Kaine, or George Allen, "approve this message."  Not to mention the content of the ads.  They employ the most blatant propaganda techniques to try and depict their opponent as a monster who is going to lead America back into the Great Depression.

It's time to get rid of the malarky (as Vice President Biden would say) that's weighing down American politics.  The American people need to realize that neither candidate has bad intentions for this nation, neither candidate is going to lead us back into the Depression, and especially that neither candidate is how they seem on the other candidate's attack ads.  The only way to change the way this election is going, and how future elections will go, is for the citizens of this nation to demand answers, and demand that the level of political discourse be raised above pointless squabbling.  Because, at least in my opinion, we're better than that.