I went down to the polls yesterday, to check out some American's voting. There was nothing much to see really. Except a local state candidate handing out flyers (Frank Calabrese - Fresh face, fresh ideas for Illinois!).
And Lincoln, in the picture above, doing his bit for Obama. I chatted to him a bit about why Lincoln would have voted for Obama.
The political campaigns in the the US are amazing. The campaigns have databases of... everyone. They go door to door in the year or so before exams, thousands and thousands of volunteers from around the country. The College Democrats at the University of Illinois (where I am at the moment) have spent Saturdays this whole year driving hours to a neibouring state to go knock on doors and chat to people about voting for Obama. They are sent out with information of who is living at different houses, and their political leanings. And they specifically target swing voters - people who aren't strongly Democrat or Republican already.
Imagine that.
I went to a talk by Naomi Klein the other day and she said that in the USA they spend to such tme and energy on elections that there is hardly any time for politics.
4 comments:
And sadly, one percent of the money spent on campaigning within this past election season could have revolutionized the world had it been applied to ANY other more pressing concern. Poverty, healthcare...
The economy here has been thrown to the dogs, BUT you have your choice of 5,000 different yard signs all saying the same thing! Oh, and, make sure not to throw out any of your ever-growing bills with the 10 political fliers that come in the mail each day!
I am glad this time is over. I think it brings out the worst in everyone involved. I am ready to move on and see how things play out. This is a historic moment, and that is exciting!
Do you agree with Klein?
Well, I'm hardly an expert in US elections. But from what little I have observed, ja, I do.
Melissa (who commented at the top) is American, and she seems to think so too!
I just looked up how much finance Obama and McCain had for their campaigns - it was about $600 MILLION each! And not rands, dollars! And the elections are accompanied by so much... *stuff.* Each candidate has a couple of books out. I saw Barak Obama and family paper dolls today. Obama action figures. McCain action figures. T-shirts, mugs, stickers, pins. I actually found some Republican gum. Yup, gum. I bought it actually, I will take a picture and put it up!
And signs in every second yard - I will put up some pictures of those too. Signs for the presidential elections, but also local elections.
And the parties do *serious* campaigning. I don't even know when people started campaigning for Obama, but since the beginning of the year at least. And this means travelling, going knocking door to door, hosting dinner parties to campaign, donating to the campaign.
But you know what it *doesn't* seem to mean? It doesn't seem to mean discussing the issues. Is doesn't seem to be about discussing policy and service delivery and local and national government...
Not that I have seen.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me to be an epic (sometimes borderline unethical) fight to get "your man" (or woman...) elected. And then the president will put into place whatever policies he chooses.
And of course you would support someone because you back their policies... I would hope anyway. But it seems to me that it also just reduces to a popularity contest.
Which candidate can raise more money, give more eloquent speeches, has a bigger, more organised, team of volunteers, can buy prime-time TV ads...
And the stuff going on on th grass-roots level, it isn't politics so much as electioneering. Its not debating the issues of the day, its selling your man. Which I think can be quite different.
Its really not all bad, the way people are motivated to campaign - I think its amazing. But I definately think it is far from perfect!
I am with ya, sister!
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