Political Campaign Reform

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate October 2001

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Political Campaign Reform Political campaigns have a consistently negative reputation. William Pfaff states in "The Threat of Demagogic Oligarchy" that in order to reform our system of campaigning in America, the government must forbid political advertising on radio and television. This is necessary because political campaigning manipulates viewers through its overly expensive campaign ads, set forth by overly powerful lobbyists in the broadcasting business, that are a huge influence among people who are having a problem deciding how or whether or not to vote.

As William Pfaff says in "The Treat of Demagogic Oligarchy," political campaigns aim their appeal to the emotions of people rather than stating relevant information about the campaign, leaving people with fright. The election process has become a game, by which a political party must sell a character to the voters in America. This is one of the reasons ad campaigning is really effective. Electors tend to bad mouth the opposing candidate and make false or over-exaggerated statements about their competitor's politics, and we can't rely on this misinformation to make knowledgeable decisions when it comes time to vote.

The result of this misinformation: skepticism and intimidation among many people who either vote ignorantly, or look down among politics and decide not to vote. William Pfaff states in "The Treat of Demagogic Oligarchy" that over 50% of the population does not vote and the disaffection within the people that do vote is obvious.

What makes the situation worse is the grants and revenues spent to fund these campaigns. They are so expensive that the broadcasting business is an authoritative factor needed by political parties to compete in an election. For example, William Pfaff, in "The Threat of Demagogic Oligarchy" shows that over $250 million was spent on the political campaigns in 1988 and in the...