Everywhere I went last weekend, Republicans and Democrats alike were basically saying, “Help! Make it stop! Can’t it just be over?” Some had gone off on vacation trips just to get away from the incessant assaults via phone, mail, Internet, television, radio and newspapers. We were suffering from campaign fatigue. So I decided it was time for the Help Embattled Citizens with Kindness program, to alleviate election stress and promote a kinder, gentler nation.
Let’s face it: American presidential campaigns have gotten to be about a year and a half too long. The HECK plan shortens the two-year process to nine months, which is at least a start. Under HECK, politicians could announce their candidacy in March of 2012 (but not before); primaries would be held during May and June; conventions would go off in July; and we would then have three months of campaigning. It’s more than enough.
To further cut down on campaign fatigue among our citizens, HECK would propose eliminating all paid political announcements on radio and television, thus quieting the noise factor considerably. This, alas, would require a campaign to promote the proposal. To make it as efficient as possible, we HECK promoters, while we were at it, would also say, “The HECK with robo-calls,” those awful computer-generated intrusions into our homes and lives. In fact, we could say, “The HECK with calls,” creating a no-call list strictly for political calls.
I don’t know about you, but I feel better about the future already. Imagine sitting quietly in the peace of your own abode, reading the candidates’ views in the newspaper or on the Internet without having information overload forced upon you at every turn.
The HECK plan would also call for a return to civil discourse among journalists, analysts, interviewers, and the oft-mispronounced pundits. These eager speakers would be on microphones that only worked one at a time, thus eliminating the rude interrupting, the incomplete sentences and thoughts, and the fruitless and unbearable shouting matches that have typified political “round-tables” in recent years.
We would still be left with the likes of Rush Limbaugh urging people to “save America” from whoever he disagrees with, Michael Savage and his self-proclaimed “Savage Nation,” and Neal Boortz, who insists we have no right to vote. But these sorts will sound mighty loud and blustery, shouting into all that new quietude. Maybe they’ll decide to tone it down a bit. Maybe they’ll say, “The heck with all this.” Or maybe the FCC will say it for them. Hey, a gal can dream, can’t she?
Susan Harper is the director of the Commerce Public Library. She lives in Commerce.
For all of the editorials and opinions, see the Nov. 5 issue of The Commerce News.
