B-b-b-billions
Months of campaigning, thousands of handshakes, millions of votes and billions spent – let’s pause there. That was billion pluralized. Did you catch that? I’ll write it again: billions spent.
Between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, billions of dollars were spent on presidential campaigns. In a country that is trillions in debt, these men essentially bought their way into the White House – or attempted to, in Romney’s case.
I realize that it wasn’t all public money that went into campaign fundraisers but when you think of the dollars spent on the ridiculous mudslinging ads, these two guys essentially paid to bad mouth the other. I could see if the commercials were positive saying “I’m the best guy because of such-and-such” but when the tone of the ad is a scary-voiced narrator showing black and white pictures of the bad guy, why would you spend money like that?
That would be like McDonald’s blowing a ton of money on commercials trashing Burger King and not once mentioning its own high-quality delicious-tasting food in the ad. Why pay to put someone else down?
Just to recap: that was billion with an S on the end. I don’t think we should glaze over that point.
So when I flip through TV channels and see the starving kids swarmed by flies in Africa, or see the sad Thanksgiving and Christmas stories about people in major cities that can’t afford a dinner that night, it really does make you wonder how much these politicians care about people. Is it just a pissing match to see who can beat the other and win the race?
When you think about the salary of the U.S. president – it’s less than a half-million dollars per year – a billion is a huge price to pay for four years in power. Does power really cost that much?
If you watched American stations the weekend before their election there were times it was only election ads during a commercial break. In the news world we heard some local TV stations made out best during the campaign since they scored big time with ad dollars.
All the spending is fine. Sure, you’re a big man because you had a billion to use. Would a candidate be more respected if he raised all that money and used it throughout the country to benefit those less privileged during his campaign? I’m just putting it out there. Think about it. Would he be more likely to get your vote?
