How To Stop The Press From Picking Our President

The sad thing has been since the Election of 1960, the press has been picking our presidents; in particular the National Television Media. Had television, been around during the 1860 election it would have been inconceivable that a homely, lanky backwoods lawyer such as Abraham Lincoln would have ever been elected. We have to look at that first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon, and really ponder weather Kennedy could have won without it. The closeness of that election was tilted in Kennedy’s favor when the Nation was able to see Kennedy and Nixon together. Due to unfavorable lighting and a lack of make-up, Nixon stood there looking more like a dock worker than a man wanting to be the next president. He had what appeared to be a 5 o’clock shadow, plus it was obvious that Kennedy towered over him (A fact that Nixon took into consideration in 1968 when he ran against Hubert Humphrey and won). Now we have leveled back out as far as they are, able to as our candidates now run their campaigns in the same popularity contests found in high schools. The other side of the Media tilt happens on each Primary, as they occur. Local and National affiliates play the poll games, asking people who they are behind, or as when they are exiting from the voting precincts, who they voted for. This creates a situation where people who vote in the early primaries are literally influencing those who vote in the later primaries (since many people want to vote for a winner). Not to mention those who don’t do well in the early primaries wind up dropping out before the big ones since they ran out of funds (no one will donate to the man who can’t win early on). So you are undoubtedly asking right now, “How do we correct this?”

Step 1) Change the dates of all the primaries to one day.

Step 2) Add a secondary where the top 2 candidates from each party have a run off (thereby making Conventions unnecessary).

Step 3) Take away the Rich factor. Level the playing field. Every Candidate should be allotted so many commercial spots to be aired nationwide as PSA’s (Public Service Announcements). Same would be true of mailings.

Step 4) National debates would occur on a regional and national basis, with full coverage. During the Primaries and Secondaries, All qualified candidates would be allowed to participate in their party’s debate.

Step 5) all candidates will submit a full disclosure to the National Election Committee, where qualifications would be reviewed, and eligibility confirmed. The FBI will also conduct a full background check, to determine if there are any discrepancies or irregularities which might bring on any legal issues. Once completed these dossiers’ would be available to all persons concerned (i.e. The American Public).

Step 6) all candidates would present their platforms to the American public, so each and every American will know where their candidate stands on the issues in a format which will allow each American to compare candidates across the board side by side with each other.

Step 7) Public appearances will be done at first party by party with all the candidates able to give speeches at each appearance until the two candidates have been chosen for the national election then at that time the candidates will be able to campaign without the other, as they see fit.

Step 8) since they will be elected as described in an earlier post (see my post titled Return To The Original Selection Process) there will be no need to select a running mate.

Step 9) Limit the donations to only those made by private citizens and not to exceed $200.00, and all unused funds will be redirected to the Party’s general fund.

Step 10) any unsolicited ads made by private citizens will be allowed but, must adhere to strict ethical standards or the person paying for the ad could be held responsible for any libelous or slanderous content. And such ads will be scrutinized by the National Election Committee, to determine their content. No ads can be aired during the last 5 days of the election if they haven’t been submitted at least 20 days prior to the election for review.

Step 11) News Stories, should be News, not commentary The Press will be restricted to the presentation of News stories only when reporting on the candidates during News programs. Any other format is fine as long as they don’t try and pass off commentaries as the News.