OK, So Stop the Political Screams

I'm not quite sure how I got on the mailing list for the fund-raising arms for all these regional, state and national Democratic candidates, but will you guys please give it a break? I am a liberal, but I am not a Democrat. I don't contribute to political candidates or parties. I am easily pissed off when politics is the topic.

Democrats and Republicans each use specific national figures to represent the boogeyman in their campaigns and I am getting these pleas that begin, "Koch brothers crushing Democrats nationally!", "Boehner and McConnell threaten to shut down government!", "The situation is desperate! Democrats heading for resounding defeat!" And on and on.

These are desperation cries to the base, the people who are far left (Democrats) or far right (Republicans), and those cries have little meaning as far as policy is concerned. The functionaries are simply raising money, which is one of the primary reasons our country doesn't work right now. The political parties and politicians spend most of their time raising money (65 percent of their time, by some estimates) and making promises to those handing it over in large quantities.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we simply eliminated the need for money by founding local and regional television and radio networks devoted only to campaigns and paid for in their entireity by the public? That would be suplemented by newspaper coverage on a voluntary basis, but always in an equal manner. The government could sell some advertising, but none of it would be political. Political ads would be prohibited everywhere. We would be ad free for most of the political season and my guess is that we'd all be a lot less stressed.