We are down to the final two weeks before election day on November 3rd. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but even in Very Blue New York City, the political campaign ads are now running full steam ahead and nonstop. I will say that the ads do make me wish that the election was over, so we can just move on.
Political ads have never made me want to vote for or against anyone. But they must work, right? I mean, why would anyone spend this much money on something that doesn’t work. Honestly, I have never known a person who was swayed by a political ad. Then again, maybe these ads are meant for me, or the people I know.
What I do know is that they have had an effect on my kid. Not that these ads have made her for or against a candidate. No, these ads have made her create a “politician” character that she rolls out when one of these commercials comes on. She tells us how she’s not a rubber stamp for Trump, or that the will stand up to Trump. How she’ll help lower or electricity bills by stopping data centers, or stopping the war in Iran to lower out gas costs. The kid takes on this weird serious tone when she plays this “politician” character, and defiantly lets us know that she approves this ad.
I would like to say that this political season has caused me and the kid to have conversations about the state of affairs in our city, state, and our country, but that would be a lie. The wife and I have tried to instill in the kid the importance in voting, and we have taking her many times to our local polling location so she can see us vote, and see what the process is like. That voting is out civic duty, one of our fundamental responsibilities as Americans, and how the right to vote hasn’t always been extended to all Americans, and thus we must be the stewards so that franchisement remains extended to all Americans.
Politicians kind’a do suck, and there are very few good ones out there. This time of year, it seems like all of them are just the worsts and will do the worst if they get elected. But, I believe that the kid is getting it, you know. Figuring out that the ads are kind’a stupid, but elections and voting are important, and a necessary part of being an adult and a citizen of this country.
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