Negative campaigning…

Dear Editor,

Its known by every voter and is commonly hated by all, often used as an excuse to not vote by many. It sickens the election like a disease and is highly contagious, spreads faster than wildfire with nearly exact results. You are hard pressed to find a proponent of negative campaigning, barely a soul will attach themselves to the anything suspected of “trash talk.” So why does negative campaigning get used so much? Very simple answer, because it works! The results are just to compelling for some to not take advantage of this low ball tactic. An election is a battle of candidates selling themselves as the most positive outcome of someones vote, and to do that is at the least a very tall order for most candidates. A way to leap frog your opponent or more so to diminish his existence in order to raise your own.

Truthfully it does not raise yourself to diminish another man, it merely leaves you at the idle status you were already at. So in fact you’ve lowered the entire election with this tactic. Is this why voters are constantly unimpressed with the quality of candidates?

As humans we are all fallible but somehow a couple candidates seem to make it to election day without being torn apart too bad. Lucky for us right?

The real offender here is the avenue that the negative message is promoted through. The media feeds us with more than enough scandal and rumors only giving us a break when one man falls. Sensational stories sell very well because we all want to know. Even complete garbage that is a known lie can pass depending on who its about. Readers and listeners are like a puppet on a string impatiently waiting for the next barb. The very poor ending to this is that the truth is rarely exposed and when it is then way after the damage is done. Ben Franklin supposedly said that a man would be made healthy wealthy and wise just by going to bed early and getting up early, although one of my favorite quotes its just nothing but theoretical opinion and more than anything Ben knew it would sell his Poor Richards Almanac.

On a personal level I want to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this campaign for mayor, my number one goal to stay positive is working good for me. I’m sleeping well at night, and I have peace of mind. Join me in this goal and lets share a positive future.

Mose Dunkel
Sandpoint