Dad Revisited

I’ve never been big into politics. Frankly, I bore easily. Hearing broad statements about what we could, should, and would be holds no interest for me. I’m more interested in details. I’m the guy who reads the instruction manual that comes with that cheap furniture you buy at Target. The stuff takes 10 minutes to build, and I spend fifteen reading the instructions. Details are what floats my boat.

Unfortunately, details are not what wins elections. Broad generalities are what wins. This is especially frustrating in re Internet age. Broad generalities were fine when details added up to column inches of a newspaper. Broad generalities may even have been fine when there were only two television stations and a limited amount of time.

Those days are gone. With Fox a platform for the Republican Party and MSNBC shilling for Obama, we can have all the TV time we need to get in-depth coverage. Now that we have the Internet we can publish and discuss the treatise that each of our candidates plan to use as their guiding document for their administration.

Instead we get attacks. It’s easier and more effective (and more accepted) to tell us what is wrong with the other guy. Instead if substance, we get talking points. Instead of plans, we get discussion of who may have been friendly with the candidate years ago. Instead of sound policies, we get sound bites.

It makes it difficult to see just who should lead. Does a prime time commercial mean you will be a good leader? Do five years in a POW camp mean you have what it takes?

I’m not certain. Nonetheless, for the first time ever I voted via absentee ballot. Since I live out of town, I can’t make it to the polls personally. I know who I think is the better man for the job, but that is not the point. Make sure you get out to the polls today. It may be the single most important thing you do this week.