In a world full of negativity is it too much to ask for our political candidates to focus on the positives and give respect?
‘Tis the season for all things political, but thankfully they are soon coming to and end! Temporarily at least. Maybe that’s why we are all so thankful during the month of November. If you’re like me, you’re probably tired of all the yard signs, commercials, snail mail, door hangings, sponsored social media ads etc but what happened yesterday really got under my skin and made me think….
Yesterday, Sunday, a woman rang our doorbell and unfortunately for us we answered. We don’t currently have a “no soliciting” sign up and that will soon change. The woman asked for my husband by his first name and proceeded to ask us who we were voting for. (Now, I am not going to get in to who or what party she represented because that is not the point) I stood up the stairs listening to the whole conversation as my dog barked crazily at her. Good boy.
My husband responded and told her sorry, but we were in the middle of something and couldn’t talk right now (which was true as we were moving furniture and reorganizing our office). Her tone quickly changed and she became almost aggressive and asked, “So you don’t know who you’re voting for or you can’t tell me? Because I need to know whether or not we should come back.” She actually had her cell phone out ready to make notes. My ever so kind husband was very polite and took one of the flyers she shoved through the door way. It’s hard to convey just how confrontational her tone was in writing, but it was just one of those interactions where when it’s over you stop and go “wow” while shaking your head, and feel upset yourself. Know what I mean?
When she left we just looked and each other completely dumbfounded by the whole experience. I understand people’s need for surveys and getting a sense of where they (politicians) stand in the race, but I really have to question knocking on doors on a Sunday afternoon and so informally addressing the man of the household by his first name? She obviously had our voter registration info to use his full first name. Call me old school, but if you’re trying to “win someone over” isn’t the first step showing them a little respect? Leading me to my next thought – Respect.
That word gets thrown out a lot, but here is the way I see it during this political time. I am going to go ahead and say everyone is talking about wanting respect and love not hate these days. So why the need for all the hate filled and negative ads we constantly see? I read, see and hear daily about how much more impactful positivity, encouragement and honesty are in changing behaviour and eliciting responses. Yes, I realize ‘honest’ is a bold word choice in a post about politics… but that is just it. It would seem (almost logical) to me, that if these politicians focused more on what they are going to do and how they are going to change, fix, enhance or otherwise improve the community, city and state (i.e speak positively about their plans) and spend less of their efforts on tearing the opponents down with obnoxious, character defacing ads (including people going door to door), they would be much more beneficial and effective.
Call me sensitive, but every time I see a negative ad anywhere, it makes me upset. Are we really back to name calling and finger pointing like elementary school kids? Speaking of kids, the mailers set a bad example for them. They indirectly teach children they way to win is to tear others down. I personally am more likely to vote for or at least pay more attention to someone whose sole focus is on themselves and what they have to offer not over-highlighting what their opponent does not. The candidate who focuses on the positives they are going to bring, not focusing on the negatives of their opponents.
I realize this is sort of a ‘soap box’ post (I really need to find out why it’s called that) and I am not the first nor the last person to have an opinion about the way election seasons are handled, but I would hope there are other people, and politicians out there who see the power and benefit of treating your opponents with respect and less of the ‘eye for an eye’ mentality. I know politics is more of a game when it comes to the theory of well, they said this so we need to attack this, thought processes, but I can’t help to go so far out to say…. the hate you spew isn’t going to make me vote for you. I reluctantly type the “H” word because it holds so much power having learned years ago from my mom to never say the word hate, and to this day don’t’ use it, but in this instance, it was short, sweet and to the point. It also made my attempt at rhyming that much more poetic.
In the end, do your research and just GO VOTE on November 6th!
*Steps off of box
