Election Reform Made Simple
(Published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin—March 10, 1996)
In another era, political candidates would try to boil their messages down to a simple phrase, one that would catch voters’ imaginations and motivate them on election day.
This began with presidential candidate William Henry Harrison, who heeded his advisors and avoided useless talk about issues — relying instead on catchy slogans, like “Tippecanoe, and Tyler too!” It was a remarkably successful strategy, and Harrison was swept into the White House in 1840.
He was so inspired at his inauguration that he spoke for an hour and 40 minutes in the rain. Being the oldest president ever inaugurated, he knew he had to fight an image problem. So he struck a pose of youthful vigor by delivering the speech without a hat.
In a month, he was dead of pneumonia, leaving later candidates to run on slogans such as: “Mclevane—he has enough sense to come in out of the rain!”
Well, some slogans work, others don’t.
But those were the good old days. Now, a political message had better be summed up in one word, or it’s likely to be tuned out. How can we expect people to devote serious thought to complex issues, especially when “ Melrose Place” comes on in 15 minutes?
As a result, you’ll see candidates repeating key words endlessly, whether they fit the occasion or not: “The bill I sponsored on sulfur-emission quotas, enhancing the interests of a few millionaires and preserving the status quo, represents the kind of LEADERSHIP you can expect ...”
Or, “I will resist any attempt to save Medicare from bankruptcy, because I still believe in the VALUES that Americans hold dear ...”
They know if they repeat the key word often enough, the voters will fall helplessly under their power. It’s the politics of mass hypnosis.
Truth is, there’s too much data out there to expect voters to sort through it all. We ought to clear out the confusion. Let voters do what we’re disposed to anyway — vote on image alone.
Ballots should eliminate the names of candidates. Think about it: printing the candidates’ names really favors those with high name recognition. How many times has a voter entered the booth and said, “Hmmm. Fred Microsoft? Seems I’ve heard of him. Must be alright.” It’s easy then for shrewd candidates to manipulate voter sentiment with names like “Jerry Normanschwartzkopf Macalister” or “Jeanine Calripken Smith.”
Instead, ballots should have pictures, each depicting the image the candidate wants to project: children holding hands in a meadow, for instance. Or, if that’s not your cup of tea: the candidate in camouflage fatigues with red bandana and ammunition belt. (Caution: Don’t try this if you are Michael Dukakis.) Voters could then choose based on their response to a particular visual icon.
This would end discrimination against those who can’t participate in the process simply because they don’t know anything. Plus, it would make voting fun. We’ve got to have some way to beat the competition from video games and shopping malls.
That suggests a good slogan for the election reform movement: “Let’s make democracy fun again!” I can see it snowballing, rolling across the country like a prairie fire.
Now, if we could just boil it down to one word.
# # #
(909) 228–6333