Elections Test

Honesty, hard work, leadership; these are all traits we as a society value and look for in our elected officials so we know that we are being led towards a brighter future. Politics today, however, seem to have lost the fair and friendly competition of running for office and instead of turned into a twisted chess match where officials are willing to do anything possible to get elected. When the voting booths open and all is said and done it is still a truly democratic process, but the methods used beforehand to gain these votes seem to have lost their patriotic spirit. Even the most honest of nominees such as Jeff Smith from the video Can Mr. Smith still get to Washington?, was knocked down by this lack of truth when he was forced to resign after discovering that one of his committee members had taken illegal money during his campaign. Perhaps the most deceitful of all to the voters are not the nominees themselves, but the media. The media is perhaps the most crucial element to an election as it the source of all news citizens receive about candidates but how they choose to present this news can make or break any hopeful official. Media bias is the perspective of journalists and reporters in the stories they cover and how they choose to present these stories to the American public. If a news network or paper supports the candidates view on an issue it can greatly help the image of the candidate and help him or her to gain more votes, however, if a network doesn’t or a candidate has a slight slipup it can be turned into scandal and cause the candidate to lose the trust of voters. This process of media coverage is truly out of the candidates hand and in that way makes the process undemocratic so all they can hope to do is maintain a positive image and avoid any scandal. Perhaps equally if not more crucial than media coverage is the amount of money candidates raise and receive to help run their campaign. Money pays for flyers, commercials, rallies, hotel accommodations, travel accommodations, etc. It is crucial to have money in order to get the candidates name out there and make sure voters know what political ideologies they stand for. To help raise money, many candidates will often for political action committees which are private groups that raise and distribute funds for use in election campaigns. They gain these funding through soft money (money not given directly to the candidate) and hard money (money given directly to the candidate). The thin line of democracy is crossed again when candidates receive soft money because this money is actually illegal but is limitless if they have the support of businesses who help pay for their political ads and media coverage. Which candidates receive these illegal funds are influenced by their political parties, organized groups that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices. The patriotic spirit of democracy is again lost in this process and the campaign once again turns into a chess match of who knows who and what they’re willing to do to gain their support. When all is said and done American citizens will view the election process as one of the few sacred democratic methods left in our government as it truly comes down to voter turnout as to who gets elected. But the process to get that point and how candidates gain these votes will forever straddle the thin line between democracy and corruption.