Outside of its astronomical significance, the fall season brings to mind cooler temperatures, the bursting yellow, orange and red of changing leaves, arts festivals, pumpkins, hay rides, homemade fruit pies, Halloween, Thanksgiving, football and political campaigning.
What? Yes, that splendid time of the year that finds Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin also gives way to an outrageous amount of political campaigns and their accompanying advertisements. Local, state and national races culminate in the fall each year — the first Tuesday of November to be exact.
This year is no different. Our televisions, radios, newspapers, e-mail inboxes and voicemails are already full of political heckling. Any means, at any cost — just get the message to the voters, huh? Sometimes I wonder if campaigns measure their effectiveness by the uncomplicated amount of media presence they control rather than the substance of their message.
The current stagnation of the economy has left the voting public as enraged as ever. Forget the meaningful topics that affect our everyday lives - education, the environment, civil rights, crime, economic policy, international affairs, defense, immigration, etc. Today’s candidates have thrown the issues out the window, along with their respect for the educated voter. Today’s campaigns seem to be mired in mud slinging alone.
The anti-Washington sentiment present on the nightly news has boiled over into local races and in most cases, the Conservative candidates are benefiting. But, as any political veteran will tell you - all races are local, meaning that what is happening in your backyard generally means more to you that what is happening in somebody else’s city, county, state or congressional district.
Because of the current political climate of our state and nation, Georgia’s races should’ve been fairly simple to predict - Conservative winners in all rural and state-wide races. The liberals still have a few strongholds, but they aren’t as guaranteed as in years past.
This year’s gubernatorial campaign is particularly interesting. As previously mentioned, the conservative candidate should’ve had this one “in the bag”: retaining a double digit lead after winning the party’s nomination in July, but as we’ve seen over the past two weeks, the landscape has changed and if all politics are truly local, we’re in for a long six remaining weeks.
While the liberal candidate has been detailing his opponent’s supposed lack of transparency, ethics violations and financial mismanagement, the conservative campaign has been attempting to tie its opponent to an unpopular president and his alleged autocratic management style.
Neither campaign has truly discussed a relevant issue during its most recent campaign ads. The candidates’ advisors may be relying on the same tricks that have won past elections: name-calling and finger-pointing, but I’m one Georgia voter that’s tired of it. I’m starving for real ideas and remedies to our recession.
Just as the autumnal equinox gives us balanced daylight and nighttime, let’s hope that our politicians can even out the childish mockery and ridicule for valuable and significant discourse. Our nation, our state and our families deserve it.
Hasco Craver is employed by the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission. He lives in Commerce.
