U.S. Political Strategy: Throw Money at the Media!
I'm always hearing that money is everything in politics,
but actually votes are everything in politics. It's just
that under our two political parties money is used to buy
positive media coverage. The advertiser funded media
naturally responds to the interests of it's paying
customers, and advertising even pays about 80% of the
costs of newspapers. Both Democratic and Republican
political organizations seem to favor relying on this
"paid propaganda."
The Foreign Solution?
Most of the worlds other parties have apparently limited
the effect of media propaganda by the use of the enforced
party platform. Because enforced party platforms are
taken more seriously by the voters, it is worth while
for the political parties to distributed them directly
to the voters - bypassing the media This ability to
bypass the media apparently removes a significant amount
of its influence. I recall a political science book
written in the 70's saying something like; "Political
parties in the U.S. are probably unique in having no
other function than raising money for politicians."
A Modest Solution
A more modest, and definitely under our political laws,
more practical solution, would be something like the
Republican "Contract with America."
The "Contract with America"
from a Political Science Perspective.
"The Contract with America" was introduced six weeks
before the 1994 Congressional election; it was signed
by all but two of the Republican members of the House
of Representatives, and all of the party's non-in***bent
Republican candidates for that body. It laid out the
plans of the Republicans in a very specific way; the
Contract was revolutionary in its commitment to specific
actions. It was the first time that a Congressional
election had been run on such a national level. The Contract
represented a triumph of Newt Gingrich and the American
conservative movement."
SOURCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_with_America
Jack
