Sunday, January 27, 2008

Election Process

Now is the perfect time to address the election process utilized for the Presidential election. Past elections have shown that popular vote doesn’t matter. It is time for elected officials to change the process and allow the President of the United States to be elected by popular vote. The convention and delegate process is not appropriate for present time. Efforts are needed to streamline this drawn out and at times boring method. If necessary, the convention could still be utilized for party platforms, policy issues, etc. The election to place an individual in the highest office in America should be decided by the majority of registered voters casting ballots (even though that is a small percentage of eligible voters). There are many more aspects of the political process that should be changed, such as campaign contributions, pork barrel spending, and lobbyists. Those issues also require attention, if there was only some way to open the eyes of politicians to the fact that Americans desire for them to get off their lazy rears and listen. Balancing the budget should be a much easier goal and is attainable. This non-action may be the result of citizens being reluctant to voice their opinion or feeling that it does no good since politicians seem to only listen when the sound is from one of their large campaign contributors. Lower the salaries of congress, cut the massive benefits, put controls in place and make an attempt to have elected officials that desire to work for the people and not the money. Make it undesirable to spend millions for a job that pays much less. Wake Up America and voice your opinion.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Television Advertisements

The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission together should take a serious look at their combined oversight of advertising. It would seem that big corporate advertisers have taken control of how they present ads with no concern for the consumers. There are too many television commercials with fast talking disclaimers and unreadable small print along the bottom of the screen. Any advertiser should be required to make all aspects very clear to the public without any confusion or misleading aspects. Drug companies should not be allowed to advertise drugs without clarification regarding why this drug would be prescribed and possible side effects should be very clear and understandable. There appears to be an extreme effort by advertisers to skirt the requirements and push the envelope as much as possible. Maybe it is time for these two commissions to band together and exercise stronger judgment when it comes to protecting the consumer. Currently, the corporate greed for revenue would appear to be the main reason for misleading, confusing, and downright outrageous advertising.