In November 2024, Americans will go to the polls to elect (or re-elect) the president. As it is in most countries in the runup to a national election, for months before the actual polling, things are in a chaotic state. In other words, from about the middle of January until just before the election date we’re in the midst of ‘silly season.’
Campaigns are getting ginned up, first for the primary elections—the elections held for each party to choose its candidate. Mud is being flung right, left, and sideways, as members of the parties try to convince their voters that they’re the best choice to prevail in the general election. Campaigns are held at the state level and each of our 50 states has its own unique way to conduct primaries.
Iowa, for example, holds what are called caucuses. That’s when people get together in some large space like a school gymnasium or auditorium and argue back and forth until they come to an agreement on who to vote for.
Other states, like South Carolina, hold a regular election, where people actually cast secret ballots. Once all the primaries are over, the major parties hold conventions to actually make the official selection of their candidates. Seldom does a convention produce a surprise these days. Because it’s usually the loudest and most active fringe of each party who really decide who gets the nod, for one party at least, we already know who the candidate will be. Well, we actually know who both major party candidates will be, but we like to pretend that there could be a different outcome come the convention.
We’re abetted in this little bit of theater by the media, including the so-called main stream media, who are looking for increased readership for the ever decreasing number of print editions and hits on their online editions—and the online editions generate a large percentage of their ad revenue. The journalistic saying, ‘if it bleeds it leads,’ is in full bloom during the silly season. There is little serious analysis of issues.
The headlines are all about gaffes and scandals, expressed in the most frenetic ‘hair-on-fire’ terms. Whether that’s because the American public has lost its ability to digest serious journalism, or that the media has come to that conclusion, the result is silliness every time you go online, turn on your TV, or pick up a newspaper. This candidate slurred a word in an interview, there’s a question of his mental competence. That candidate was just charged with another alleged crime, his followers are apt to turn violent. And the list goes on and on.
I long ago stopped being an avid TV watcher, except to catch up with old favorites on streaming services, and I’ve limited my media exposure to keep from becoming ill from all the junk they feed audiences these days.
Come my state primary, I’ll vote, and I’ll vote again in the general election. I know who the candidates will be, and I know how I’ll vote. I hope that there are enough people like me who will choose a candidate on the basis of what he can do to better conditions in the country as a whole and not based on the dreck that is posted on social media, the latest poll, or the headlines or lead stories, few of which go into enough detail to be of any real use, and many of which are disinformation or outright falsehoods.
In the meantime, all I can say is ‘fasten your seatbelts, you’re in for a wild ride.’ | NWI
