Allow me to start by acknowledging the obvious irony: My first post on The Moderate Voice is anything but moderate.
But sometimes, to reach a moderate or centrist conclusion, we must all start with an extreme suggestion, so we can work our way back to the viable middle. And that is precisely my intent here.
I know we’ll never stop political lies … any more than we’ll stop the little white lies told in our respective families and social circles. Still, I think we can limit the deceptive damage done in politics, if we muster the national will to kill or minimize political advertising.
Why raise this issue now? Because regardless of how we graded the mid-term results, many of us still smell the lingering stench of the ads preceding those elections, from both sides of the political spectrum, and we refuse to believe that the ends justify the means. Furthermore, if we don’t act now, we’ll have more of the same in less than two years, and then again two years after that, and so on.
I realize there are a range of reasons to oppose an outright ban on political ads, although I don’t think even the most legitimate of those reasons is convincing enough to shy away from at least discussing this idea.
At Central Sanity, I summarize what I think are the primary arguments in the “for” and “against” columns.
If you’re inclined to read those summaries, I hope you’ll also take a moment to chime in with your point of view. What am I missing? Exactly how naïve am I?
Be forewarned: If you comment, I may quote you in a longer essay on this topic that I’m considering. Only the bold should apply.