The bad news is that your vote doesn’t count. However, the good news is that your money does, so pay up.

It is now commonplace for political pundits to use a candidate’s campaign funds as a predictor for presidential viability. This practice can only lead to folly. Many have talked conspiratorially about “buying an election,” but only recently has it become a political reality.

This practice forwards the belief that elections can be bought and skews the actual popularity of a candidate.

A contemporary example is Hilary Rodham Clinton and Barrack Obama. Both have roughly $26 million in campaign funds, and are considerted to be relatively even.

What is overlooked by simply using funds as a qualifier rather than poll results, is Obama’s funds are of a more diffuse group of people giving smaller amounts, making him potentially more popular.

With an electorate whose interest in politics is waning, politicians are forced to appeal to the masses anyway they can. This is by advertising, and advertising is expensive.

In a society where instant access to information is commonplace, and the most commonly used forms of media are television and the Internet, the “30 second sound bite” has become king.

Whether it be an attack on a political rival or the increasingly endangered positive advertisements, the ads are one dimensional and low on substance. But this is what the American mob wants. We want quick access to information, despite the lack of substantive argument.

As always, we must find someone to blame, it must be someone’s fault. Shouldn’t it?

First, let us discuss the politicians. Sadly, we cannot blame them no matter how much we try. The presidential hopefuls have a daunting task ahead of them. They have to go through a virtual gauntlet of primaries, debates, rallies and television campaigns just to get the party nomination, and then they must go into the national election, against the opposition’s candidate. All of this travel, organization and advertising costs money, massive amounts of money. Politicians are forced to go through this schedule, as well as the necessity of political advertising as a method of campaigning. They are, in essence, slaves to the system.

The next group that is involved is the Political Action Committees. These PACs give large amounts of money to candidates, in hope that the candidates, upon victory, will help the PAC further their agenda, whether it be abortion rights, gun rights or tobacco control. But can one truly blame these entities either? The politicians need money and the PACs have it, and are willing to give it in return for political support.

Who can be left? We, the people, are to blame. It is sad to say, but it can be traced back to us as the reason and motivation that money has become so important to an election. We are the reason that funds are just as important as votes for

political survival.

We are no longer involved in the governance of our nation. Whether we are too busy, or too deterred by the polarization and political infighting of our government, most Americans have withdrawn from political activity. Our withdrawal, laziness and lack of knowledge on the issues forces the politicians to find us where they can. That is in our e-mail, our mail boxes and our televisions, between episodes of our favorite sitcoms. This television advertising is expensive, and politician’s must find some way to fund these activities.

To quote V, in “V for Vendetta,” “To find who is to blame, you need look no farther than your mirror, dear friends.”

The sad fact about American politics is that few American’s take the time to look deep into the issues, to gain an understanding of the facts. We allow politicians to spoon feed us their truth, through television advertising and negative campaigning.

If you find the recent trends to be disturbing, getting involved and becoming more knowledgeable about the issues is the cure for such a problem.

Staff: - 04/26/07