Campaigning About You?

Is it possible for candidates to run a campaign without talking (I use this term lightly) about why I shouldn’t vote for the other? Can we envision a new way to campaign? Could any of us really “sell” ourselves without any regard to another?

In the fall of 1976, I was a 6th grade student in elementary school (yes, way back when…6th grade was still part of elementary school 😉

We were following the presidential race between Carter and Ford via the newspaper and the 6 o’clock news (pretty much our only sources). I remember thinking that campaigning must be a time for a candidate to tell you why you shouldn’t vote for the other guy. When I questioned my teacher about this, I remember him explaining it to me as a need to hold the other responsible for their actions. I adopted this belief because I believed my teacher knew everything and was right about everything. Yet it still bugged me that the candidates, reporters, supporters, analyst, etc… spent so little time telling me why we should vote for someone based on their platform, history and plans. It still bugs me.

Does it have to be this way? 

A New Way to Campaign

My dream, campaigns run entirely on why I should vote for a candidate, not why I shouldn’t vote for the other. A new way to campaign! I believe my teacher had incorrect information. I also grew out of my need to hold onto the beliefs my 11 year old self adopted. It is not my job to prove my teacher wrong, it is my job to take responsibility for myself. After all, the only person you can truly hold responsible for their actions is yourself.

Start telling me about yourself, warts and all, talk to me about your plans, your mistakes, your platform. Let me see how you handle it all. I don’t need your opinion about your opponent, I am an adult and I can form my own opinions. What I need is for you to talk to me about why I should vote for you…period. This doesn’t mean just the good and beautiful things but also the bad and ugly things. How you handle the mistakes, your falls, your missteps. Do you (do any of us) have the courage to stand on your pile of shit and talk to me without blaming, distracting or pointing fingers? We all make mistakes. We all do things in our 20’s, 30’s, 40’s that we would do different now that we are 50, 60 and 70. Tell me what you learned from those things and how you have grown from them.

If you keep going back to talking about why I shouldn’t vote for your opponent, you speak volumes about your own insecurities. Take responsibility for your own actions and let the other take responsibility for theirs. Let’s have a new way to campaign. We can do this. We aren’t impressionable children anymore.

Or are we?