A Modest Proposal for Voters in 2008

Now that the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary have gotten the election race off to an exciting start, here's a modest proposal I'm offering to voters, including myself, on a few ways to keep your emotions in check and cast your ballot using your brain as well as your heart.

• Don't follow the election as if it were a horse race. This is what the media does, especially on 24-hour news outlets like CNN and Fox. It's really easy to want to bet on a “winner” based on what all the pundits and polls are telling you, but remember, the “prize” in this case isn't money, it's your future and the future of your country. Good negotiators always walk out of the car dealership and sleep on it before they plunk down their hard-earned cash on a good-looking car. In elections, just turn off the TV and ignore the polls for at least 24 hours before you cast your vote for the candidate that looked best to you, and you're less likely to suffer “buyer's” remorse.

• Don't vote for the “nice guy.” Remember the current occupant of the White House. He was portrayed as a “nice guy,” a guy “you'd want to have a beer with,” a guy who wasn't a “Washington insider.” He was also the same guy who thought the U.S. Shouldn't be the world's policeman. A “nice guy” (male or female) is someone you invite to a barbeque, not someone you want to put into the White House. Sure, no wants a sociopath in there either, but surely the leader of the free world should have something a little stronger going in the credentials department than just being “nice.”

• Take campaign promises with a large grain of salt. Politicians on the election trail are consummate sales people. They tailor their message to the local audience and tell you what you want to hear in the vaguest terms possible. That's why undefined but optimistic terms like “hope,” “values,” and “change” are so popular. They sound good to everyone and if delivered with just the right touch of sincerity and some stirring background music, they might just make you overlook their plausible deniability. A better measure of what a candidate might do in office is to look at their past record and place that record in the context of the challenges and crisis each one faced during their political careers. If you can find an in-depth profile written by a journalist who followed the candidates back in the statehouse or congressional district they represent, all the better.

• Follow the money. Since the Supreme Court ruled that money equals free speech, democracy in this country has been awash in the campaign contributions of special interests, and the candidates have their hands out to accept, no matter how much they decry the role of money in elections. This isn't necessarily all the candidates' fault. Campaigns are absurdly expensive, and as the late Molly Ivins used to quip, “You got to dance with them what brung ya.” But paying attention to those who are giving money to the candidates is effort well spent. On January 8^th, 2008, Democracy Now ran a great piece on who has contributed to the $420 million candidates have already raised (and that's running at twice the rate of fundraising from the last election). (http://www.democracynow.org/).

• Use your TiVo or the low-tech alternative, the mute button, whenever a campaign ad comes on your screen. These ads are a pure exercise in emotional manipulation from the imagery to the patriotic music that underscores the inevitable flag in the background. Turning off the sound at least allows you analyze the message, and if you're smart, you'll follow up with a trip to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan site operating under the aegis of the Annenberg Foundation (http://www.factcheck.org/.

• Don't get discouraged, disgusted, or disaffected because of the election process, which is messy, frustrating, inefficient, and way to long. Vote anyway! It's still one of the best ways you can influence your government, and your ballot does make a difference. Just look at what's happened so far in Iowa and New Hampshire.