If you were a fan of the old TV show Good Times, you had to remember the character of Alderman Fred C. Davis. He was a politician who got the Evans family into the projects. In the season three episode called “The Politicians”, he's running for re-election against a young and up and coming politician. Fred Davis is an old school, up from the streets kind of politician. He may be a little corrupt, a little bit sleazy, but he's been around forever and people vote for him because of fear (of being evicted or retaliation), out of familiarity or because he makes sure business flows to his friends. At one point, the group gets into a game of running the dozens (basically two sides form and they start insulting the other with rhymes) but the young politician refuses to do so. He wants to campaign on the facts and the record of the Alderman. At the end of the episode, Alderman Davis wins but the young politician vows to return better and stronger the next time, and of course he says this in the rhyming style of the dozens.

I thought about that episode when I saw a documentary on PBS called Street Fight about the failed attempted of now Mayor Cory Booker of Newark first campaign for mayor in 2002. He was the young politician in the Good Times scenario. Sharp James, the opponent and incumbent mayor at the time, was Alderman Davis. The film showed a dirty and rough campaign that words can't even begin to accurately describe. James did everything he could to beat down Booker. To me the most disheartening part of the documentary was near the end of the campaign when Booker had a town hall meeting and this little boy, who had just heard his mother ask questions of Booker alluding to a theme James had been putting out that Booker wasn't 'black enough' to represent the city, asked if Booker was black. It brought nervous laughter to the people at the town hall and actually that kid's question put on the table what every person in that room, and probably most of the voters, were thinking. The campaign was less about promises the candidates made or how they could improve the city; the focus on the campaign was based on the authentic race of one of the candidates.

I wish a lot of people could watch Street Fight because what I got from watching the film is why our current election, from the Presidential to local, have become like that Good Times episode and like the Cory Booker race of 2002. It's possible American politics have always been this way, but this year it has become crystal clear we have gone from issues to style in a big way. When you have a Republican debate schedule that looks more like the road show of American Idol, you have a fundamental problem with the heft and respectability of elections.

Elections have become theater and sport. We watch debates to look for the zinger, the witty retort, the epic fail. Some latch onto polls, trying to divine trends that will support their decision to put their faith in one candidate. We don't use the debates or stump speeches or polls to learn about candidates any more. We don't research the issues or the background of the politicians. Most of us will decide on a politician because of party affiliation or a general feel for the person. Quite a number of people will vote against someone rather than for a candidate. The elections have turned into one long game of the dozens. The goal is to trash talk the other person, not to talk about what you can do to help others or get us out of the mess we are in. It's best to warp the facts; make the public dislike a politician on innuendos rather than like a politician on issues and facts.

Like I said, this trend is all along a political ticket. Just in my area, looking at the campaigns for Senate and House seats have been so extreme they have been like parody. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on politics but I found myself confused by who was running for what office. Very few of the political commercials talked about what a candidate would do when elected. Many would highlight an opponents personal weakness and since many of those ads were from outside sources, you didn't have a person endorse the negative ads. Since we're not in a swing state, we had been spared the negative ads on the Presidential level until a few days ago.

There is one more day and this negative morass will be over. It cannot get here soon enough for me.

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Voting the Dozens - November 05, 2012
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