The 16th Congressional Campaign - Diary of a Trashy Campaign

I am so sick of the Congressional campaign and what it has turned in to. It has turned into supporters of the major candidates throwing monkey crap at one another.

This community has real problems. Poverty, illiteracy, drugs, bigotry, lack of health insurance, poverty, obesity, diabetes, poverty, HIV/AIDS, public corruption, low voter turn-out, low voter registration, poverty, etc...

Oh yeah, did I mention poverty?

All of those are real problems. Is that the stuff we are talking about these days?

Hell no. Despite having very real and important issues facing the community we focus on other crap. 

The political food fight. The stuff that turns people off to politics.

And yet people are trying to make someone's Facebook friending and unfriending an actual "issue"?

How much more high school can we get around here? 

Real leaders talk about issues. Pay attention to who is talking about issues and pay attention to people that are shoveling monkey crap.

I don't think Ghandi, George Washington, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King or any other transformative leader would be terribly freakin' concerned about who friended and unfriended someone on Facebook.

You know who gives a crap about stuff like that? 13 year old little girls care about that. Grown-ass adults have more important things to worry about than who is and isn't a friend of someone on Facebook.

But while we are on the subject, let me set some things straight here.

We are really supposed to give a crap about who an elected official chooses and chooses not to have as friends on their own personal, non-tax payer funded, private Facebook account?

I mean, we are talking about a personal Facebook page right? That's supposed to be an issue?

Why? Other than some feelings were hurt or some people are just so desperate to remain relevant that they have to create controversy where one doesn't exist? 

I mean if she had done something like blocked a constituent from emailing her at the County I think it might be an issue. MIGHT be an issue. I think if the person were engaging in harassing behavior then I think its a totally different conversation. But that's only if that person were engaging in some sort of harassing behavior. If they were just complaining and she blocked someone, THEN I think it would be an issue. But to the best of my knowledge, that hasn't happened.

I could see if they were told they couldn't call El Paso County Commissioner's Court. If that happened, THEN it would be an issue. 

If the County Judge banned someone from showing up during public comment, THEN I can see it being an issue.

But its not, so people should stop participating in the monkey poop tossing contest. When you fling monkey crap, you end up smelling like monkey crap. 

I pride myself in keeping it real. So lets keep in real for a minute. 

The way some people are acting is undignified. Its counter-productive to the messaging of your campaign. You can't call your candidate a statesman and then let staffers or close supporters participate in undignified behavior. 

You can't call your candidate someone who wants to do things differently but their supports act like more of the same.

Both candidates want to be a member of Congress. How about having supporters that act like they belong there?

It's called dignity people. Look it up.

And don't give me this crap that it can't be controlled. (My friend Marek Swiderski gave me a very constructive critique about not cursing so much in my blog and I have made it sort of a New Years' Resolution to stop cursing in my blog. So I would normally curse in this sentence, but I'll stick to my resolution.) 

Monkey Crap!

If you really were interested in stopping the antics and making the campaign about issues, then you would. 

And don't give us the "they did it first" or the "what about them?" defense either. We aren't in kindergarten and we aren't on the playground.

We are dignified adults.

How about acting like it? How about giving people a reason to vote for you because of your ideas or because of your record?

How about having a little more dignity than a forum at Ramona Elementary?