Good evening, Dave! I sincerely and respectfully disagree. I think that what is happening is really more of a reflection of the true will of the American people. There was one media figure who claimed that the media was going to swing the election 15 points in Kerry's direction. I think the media may have managed a 10 point swing--but that's just speculation on my part. I also think that if Kerry had not been such a terribly flawed candidate, he would have won.
Let me remind everyone of a few things. 1) I think that the effect of the Swiftboat Vets is underrated and yet even the underraters agree they had their huge effect even though they had very little money (relatively speaking--yes they did eventually get a fairly large stack of cash, but it was after they made such a huge splash.) 2) In terms of the educational attainment, Kerry won among high school dropouts and people with Ph.Ds. Bush won among everyone in between. 3) The old media did their best to provide "October surprises." Those "surprises" didn't work because there were alternate media outlets that were able to debunk them immediately (and because the "surprises" were so amateurish.) I think that this election has proven a few things. 1) While you DO need a certain amount of money to run for office, there is also a level at which more money doesn't do additional good. 2) and 3) show that there probably is a little more awareness of issues and intelligence about them than you are giving people credit for. Lowell C. Savage It's the freedom, stupid! Gun control: tyrants' tool, fools' folly. > Good morning, Frank! > > Frank Reichert wrote: > > > This cesspool was created by both the Democrats and Republicans. > > Certainly there are other choices around, they just aren't heard. > > Largely by design. At the local level, I can't say that. I was > > given pretty good coverage most of the time, and I still lost > > horribly. > > > > So. The status quo continues. At least for now. > > A number of years ago, on a quiet afternoon in June I believe it was, you, > Roger Erdman and I held a free-wheeling discussion in these hallowed halls > about the perceived "dumbing down of America", which the three of us all > felt was taking place all around us, and at that time, we were openly > speculating about the impact it would have on our political > infrastructures. I submit that the discussion we once held has come full > round, and that other than a minority of Americans who still hold college > degrees, the dumbing down of Americans has more or less taken place as we > once foresaw that it would. > > The net result is that the majority of Americans no longer truly look at > the issues or even the candidates, for the most part. We have become a > nation misled, and in the words of our founders, a nation not worthy of > the freedoms we still possess. In a time of history when "packaging", in > the form of public relations and big war chests filled with political > contributions, rather than substance and acumen, count more for the voters > than anything else, even the venerable old Harry Truman would have a > difficult time being elected President against the likes of Bill Clinton > or George W. Bush, in my opinion. > > Is this a tentative swing of the pendulum, where having swung so far to > the politically conservative side, we are sooner or later bound to swing > back to the liberal policies of the past? Or will sanity, in the form of > Libertarian thought, finally be heard in the national airwaves, as America > begins to search its own past to find a solution? However, we need to be > building war chests and carefully assessing candidates to find ways to > create good public relations schemes, for that is the watchword of this > generation, it seems. > > With the success of the dumbing down of America, selling a political party > on the basis of logic and well-defined goals will not work in America > anymore. Libertarians need glitzy cheap "gadgets", and deep war chests to > be elected to public office, now more than ever. > > Dave > -- > Dave Laird ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > The Used Kharma Lot > Web Page: http://www.kharma.net updated 11/24/2004 > Usenet news server : news://news.kharma.net > > Fortune Random Thought For the Minute > Ego sum ens omnipotens. > _______________________________________________ > Libnw mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > List info and subscriber options: > http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw > Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
