Last week I asked the question: Should politicians be accounted for what they have done in their past 100%? After extensive research on the internet trying to find what people think about the matter, I was unable to find any substantial evidence for my question. However I did find a question website on which someone had asked: "What Kind of Background Makes a Good Politician?", and many of everyday people responded which interesting views on the matter. A few responses from this website include:
"A man or woman who is an expert in economics, finances, stocks, etc; who is compassionate to the plight of the many, who takes care of this country, not foreign aid; who is humble."
- To me, this person represents the people who care about how the political candidate is actually going to do his or her job based on their background of knowledge.
"A compassionate, honest, altruistic person. Not one who (like most nowadays) put his/her interests first, is corrupt and is in it mostly as a stepping stone to riches and fame."
- This person seems to represent those who care about their polictician having a reputation of being honest and not corrupted.
"Respectfully, your question is flawed, because you assume that there is such a thing as a good politician.
There are indeed, and the one thing they all have in common, Mate, is that they are DEAD. "
There are indeed, and the one thing they all have in common, Mate, is that they are DEAD. "
- This person represents the people who don't believe there could be such a politician that has a clean background and is flawless.
There are many conflicting views about this matter, much more than is represented here. It is because there are so many views that there is no one right answer and that is why my question wasn't able to be answered fully. However, through me asking this question I came upon interesting research which opened my eyes up to the opinions of the American people about the kind of candidate they would like to see in office.
This past week in class we finished the documentary "The Perfect Candidate" about the candidates Oliver North and Chuck Robb. From this documentary we discussed tactics used by political campagins of propaganda such as special appeals, fear appeals and logical fallacies. We also discussed tactics of positive and negative campaigning which really caught my attention in class. In the video it stated that negative campaigning is more effective than positive campaigning in regards to getting a political candidate elected.
In my opinion, I believe negative campaigning is more effective in the long run than positive campaigning. Even though sometimes when a politician puts out a negative ad bashing his opponent it can backfire, I believe that people mostly care about what was actually said in the ad than where it came from. They become infuriated about the allagations against that particular opponent and will thus vote for anyone on the ballot except the candidate the ad was made about because they believe everything the ad says and don't want that person in office. I believe if a candidate only puts out positive views, he won't get any attention in the race.
This discussion in class led me to think about how the current race for congress in the 7th district of Virginia is being run. It is split between three candidates: Republican Eric Cantor, Democrat Rick Waugh and the Independent Tea Party Candidate Floyd Bayne. Curious about this election, I researched on the websites of all three candidates. I noticed that Eric Cantor didnt have anything bad to say about his candidates. However Rick Waugh and Floyd Bayne show discontent over the way Eric Cantor has been doing in his job. Floyd Bayne seems to be doing the best at negative campagining in this election and in my opinion I believe he will thus cause a major upset in this election against Eric Cantor and Rick Waugh. Here's one of the videos featured on Floyd Bayne's website:
Bayne, Floyd. Floyd Bayne - The Conservative Tea Party Candidate - Virginia's Seventh District Floyd Bayne for Congress - Home Page. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. http://www.floydbayne.com/.
"United States House of Representatives Elections in Virginia, 2010." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Virginia,_2010#District_7.
"What Kind Of Background Makes A Good Politician?" Ask Questions, Get Free Answers - Blurtit. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. http://www.blurtit.com/q8989942.html.
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