The political pundits are claiming that this autumn's presidential election will be the closest in twenty years. Not since the time the peanut farmer from Georgia faced off against the actor from California has an election appeared to hang so closely in the balance. Thus, we can pretty much assume that over the course of the next month and a half, we will be subjected, by both major candidates, to a never-ending stream of soundbites, which seem to have become the defining characteristic of American politics.


Elections appear to have become nothing more than a series of TV commercials. As election day gets closer, not only will paid advertisements from both parties become increasingly omnipresent, but so will the number of unsubstantiated remarks from both Dubya and Gore. But such remarks seem more geared toward creating soundbites for the evening new than toward educating the voters.


Elections -- from those for school council on up -- have always been a bit of a popularity contest, with candidates' magnetism, charisma, speaking ability, and even -- in this televised (and webcasted) era -- looks, all crucial to success as the congruence of their political views with those of the majority of the electorate. But, due to a combination of circumstances -- namely me getting only basic cable and being a news junkie somewhat cut off from the Internet by my malfunctioning monitor -- I have been watching past American presidential debates, notably Reagan-Carter and Reagan-Mondale, on CSPAN-2 (yes, some people do watch that).


I must admit that soundbites are definitely memorable -- one of my few memories of the American elections in 1988 is having Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles interrupted by commercials during which George Bush (the father, not the son, nor the holy ghost) proclaimed "Read my lips...No new taxes!" Soundbites are useful, and are excellent for getting a succinct message across. But today's political exchanges seem to be devoid of anything but one-liners. Substantial, in-depth, and yes, boring, discussion of the issues on the Democratic and Republican platforms has not yet been part of this year's campaign. Are Gore and Bush (both of whom are apparently down with both the Son and the Ghost) assuming that the American people are so stupid that they do not want to hear about the policy changes that will characterize their next government? Or worse, that they will fail to understand them?


However, worry not -- some aspects of the American electoral process, are clearly flourishing. The firmly egalitarian nature of the world's oldest democratic republic is confirmed by the fact that a man who would appear to command the intellect of a rock, George W. Bush, has been nominated for President by the Republican Party, to face off against someone who is trying to undergo a superficial personality change worthy of a WB high school serial in an effort to change his public image.


Both candidates are making considerable noise by making statements such as: "We must save our schools!" or "We must clean up the environment!" or "Social Security must be saved!" But neither Bush nor Gore care to substantiate precisely how they are going to do it.


Educational policy is a case in point. For Bush, it would entail large-scale voucher programs, which may well work to help children in poor neighborhoods attend better schools. He doesn't point out that this would have the undeniable effect of draining money away from the public education system. Gore talks about improving public education within the current framework, without substantiating on how it will be done. Neither address the fact that as long as public education in this country is funded locally, by locally levied taxes, poor neighborhoods will never have well-funded schools. Both have presented grand plans for the trillion-odd dollar budget surplus anticipated over the next decade. Neither have chosen to discuss that it is not definite that surpluses will meet expectations and that it would be prudent not to spend the money too long before it's in the bank.


The soundbiting, if you will, of American politics has not gone unnoticed by Rage Against the Machine, who have a music video spliced with shots of Gore and Bush saying essentially the same thing about campaign finance, as well as a variety of other issues. They would appear to think that the two candidates are essentially the same and that voting is a waste of time.


Being the government major that I am, I am not inclined to support the notion that voting is a waste of time. It is a waste of time for me to hope that Gore will stop jumping around stages, exhorting workers with calls of "Early to bed, early to rise, work real hard, and UNIONIZE!" (I mean, for one, look at Gore, and then consider union density in this country; it's not like it's Sweden). Or that Bush will stop trying to market himself as the protector of the weak and downtrodden of American society (who's he kidding here, anyway?). What I do hope for is that the American people will demand that their politicians respect their intelligence, and actually speak more substantially about the issues at stake. That Gore and Bush will be forced to establish where they are similar and where their views differ. That this election will be determined by more than who had the best marketing team.

Archived article by Trineesh Biswas