The National Election was held yesterday. After 18 months of primaries, nomination
conventions, debates, print and television ads, it is finally over. It is time for people to throw away their lawn
signs, have billboards removed, and get back to regular commercials trying to
sell us products instead of telling us about candidates or issues.
In many ways the 2012 election was very much like every
other election. On a national level, it
was two candidates trying to convince the voters why their ideas are better or
maybe why the other candidate’s ideas won’t work. While every election has had its fair share
of negative campaigning, 2012 did prove to be one of the more vicious elections. Some believe it was this viciousness and lack
of enthusiasm with either candidate which caused voter turnout to dip lower
than 2008 and 2004. Voter turnout
nationally was around 57.5%.
What made 2012 somewhat different was the amount of money
spent. It is estimated between presidential
and congressional campaigns close to $5.8 billion was spent. This number astounds me. The primary parties responsible for the
increase in spending were the numerous Super-PACs (Political Action Committee). The
PACs won a U.S. Supreme Court case (Citizens United vs. Federal Election
Committee) which in essence states the spending of money on political campaigns
is the equivalent of free speech and should not be regulated or suppressed. As a result, while direct
spending by candidates and political parties was down in 2012, the Super-PAC
spending made this the most expensive election in the country’s history.
What do you think of our political process and American
politics? Do you like the ways elections
are conducted? Is there anything you
think should be changed about the process?
What is your reaction to the amount of money spent? Do you think it is money well spent or was it
excessive?
Charlie- I don't like the way that elections are conducted because when I am 18 and eligible to vote i want my vote to count and make a difference. I think that they should annouce a winner by the popularity vote not by electoral votes. I think that the canidates should focus on there selves instead of the person they are running against. I think they spend to much money.
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DeleteKylee-I think that the political progress is lacking and needs more changes. I do like the way the elections were conducted. I believe the process is good except that not every Americans voice is heard even if they vote. My reaction to how much money was "like Whoa"! The money could have been less. Considering what other causes that amount of money could go towards to make a large difference.
ReplyDeleteMadeline- I like our political process, but I think that sometimes it can get a little too overwhelming with so many advertisements, commercials, and signs. I do like the way elections are conducted, because you get to go up to a booth where no one can see you and vote on which person you like. When you go to vote, sometimes there can be a really long line, so I would find a way that the lines can go faster so people can more easily fit voting into their schedule. I agree with Kylee on the fact that too much money is spent on commercials or advertisements and could instead be going to charity. I believe this because there are so many people and animals in need, and instead of spending billions of dollars on advertisements give it to homeless shelters, animal shelters, and charities in need.
ReplyDeleteHenry- I think the political process id good so far, but they could really cut down on the signs and all of that stuff, but we also had to vote for propositions1, 2, and three which also made it even more hectic. I like how they run but not how they take for ever to get the final count and know who won. I think this will lose peoples votes. Nothing other than the length of time to do it. I think it is ridiculous on how much money they spend to attempt to become president of the united states. I think it could go both ways but i just cant believe how much money the spend.
ReplyDeleteAustin- I think the process is good because people have different opinions and when they vote they get to express there opinion. Yes. I like how people can go to there pole and vote. It is pretty organized but can sometimes be very hectic. No I think the process is good and organized. I think we waste alot of money on all the ads that interrupt others T.V. programs and make people mad. I think alot of the money is used excessivly and should be spent on better things than advertisments.
ReplyDeleteClaire- I think the political progress is good because we have had a lot of good presidents and most of them have succeeded. Yes I do like the way elections are conducted, in fact, I was watching the elections on Tuesday and it was indeed very exciting. No, I don't think the process should be changed because it seems very well run to me. My reaction to the amount of money spent is, "holy cow that's a lot of money!!" The amount of money spent just amazes and awes me. I think that the money spent is a little excessive and should be used (like Austin said) on better things than just ads. I think they should spend the money on people in need and other things like that.
ReplyDeleteMargaret-I think the progress is good because have have mostly had good presidents but also i think peoples vote should count more.I think that they should not have electoral votes and have the peoples vote make the president.I do think that we should change the process just a little.The amount of money spent is a lot and i am amazed that we can spend that much money!! I think that the money is spent ok but not well. I think that we should help the people in need more than o the president his self.
DeleteGrace- I don't think the political process is very good. The officials should be focusing on the population votes because the people should decide on who's leading their country, not the electorial officials. I don't understand why we had to spend so much money. I think we should focus more of putting that money to better use.
ReplyDeleteGraci- I think our political process is a little overwhelming with all the posters, billboards, TV ads, etc. When the presidental elections starts that all you see or hear about on TV. I like how are votes are conducted except for our electoral votes because our votes should decide the president. The amount of money we spend I think is too much. We don't need all the billboards and ads to make us vote for the canidate we want as president, we should listen to what they have to say and then make our decision. I don't think our money is well spent. We put it on stuff that some people just sometimes ignore, we need to put the money to better use.
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ReplyDeleteJack- the political process is good we can run as a country and make other countries better. And graci there are not many posters or billbourds. on tv there are because the genral process of the president is to run a country
DeleteRobert Fritz- I think that the process is pretty interesting because its more like a game with only one winner. I also think that american politics are kind of fun because you can vote for the person that you want to win and see if they do win. I don't like the way that elections are conducted because the people that are counting the votes could be cheating by voting for there party. I think that computers should tally up all the votes if it isn't already. The reaction that i have for the amount of money spent is that they spend way to much money because they spend millions of dollars running for president and if you lose you automatically lose that millions of dollars. I do not think the money is well spent because again if you lose you lose all of the money you used to run for president and i think the money could be used for better purposes like donation,college or your life savings.
ReplyDeleteI think that our political process is ok. It might be better to have more voters and such. I think the amount of money spent was WAY too much. It is also crazy how the most aggresive and most money spent was on that day of the election.
ReplyDeleteEmile-the way elections are conducted is wrong and its a sorta smart thing to do electoral votes but i feel like it can make the bigest diference in the entier game California is so over powered because it has 55 electoral votes for democrats. i think it should be done in popularity and in who wins the minority of the debates.there are way better porpoises of money 5.8 billion dollars is so much money we could only dream of imagining that could poetically go down the drain.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth- They could use some help because most of them arenot the best. Most of the time some are just rude to one another. I hate it when they campanists are saying things bad about the econnomy because one person did it. Not being every so mean to one another. The goverment uses way to much money on things that go wrong or epicly fail. Some of the money spent for campaning is well spent but if your going to give money give it to a good cause.
ReplyDeletevictoria-I think that we have good political progress because none of our presidents in the years that i have lived have been bad. They seem to have good success and work hard to make our country better. I do like the way that elections are conducted because it is very interesting and nerve racking to see who will win and i also think that 18 is a good age to vote. i definatly think that they should stop spending so much money on ads and start spending money on things that will help our country.
ReplyDeleteEmily - I think that it's good, because we have had good presidents in the past who have worked hard to help make our country better. I think it's fine the way elections are conducted. I wouldn't change anything about the process because it hasn't had any problems before. It's a waste of money i think. They use it for a bunch of ads, which they don't need. They really need to put the money towards something good for our country, and not just political ads.
ReplyDeleteMckai - I think it is a fair but i wish it was on how many votes not how many elect row votes. No i do not like the it is conducted.No. No I think it should be spent on getting out of det
ReplyDelete-Sam-What I think of our political process is that it somewhat ridiculous that we have to endure this for a couple months out of the year. Just the sheer amount that was spent this year is hard to grasp because some people live on dollars a day. The process I good in the fact that it is in an elimination style, this is fair in the fact that if you lose a certain election before the final election then you can’t win the presidency. The election in America is done in a very organized fashion overall, you have the best person of each party in a runoff election. The one thing that is necessary for our election process is the part about the electoral votes, I disagree that our votes in Idaho count less than peoples votes in Texas. But, in the whole I think that when a candidate wins they have one the election undoubtedly. When you talk about the whole outstanding money thing you have to take this from the candidate’s point of view. They think that since there are some states undecided that they have to make sure that they have the constant thought that the peoples mind that they are going to vote to one of them, if not then at least have the question there “Who will I vote for?” I am going to assume that based upon the considerable amount of money spent overall that the families who were running had quite plentiful resources set aside for the campaign. You could say that it was excessive for the money spent but in the candidates mind it’s just securing another person’s vote.
ReplyDeleteBen Hermes- i think that every vote should make a huge difference instead of the majority votes to only count.
ReplyDeletei really don't know if I'm a democrat or a republican they both focus on the same thing but try getting there in a different way.