Congratulations to all of us!  We survived another round of endless television ads, intrusive telephone robocalls, and unwanted overly familiar emails.  Another round won’t begin until…tomorrow?

This election cycle made me reflect upon certain things.  How many people in the United States are “strategists?”  Same question re “pollsters?”  Are these full-time jobs?  Who pays them?

Wouldn’t it have been nice if there was a public service television/internet outlet -- a place accessible by almost all --which offered candidates the opportunity to be interviewed in a serious way – say for an hour or so -- by some non-partisan who knows how to ask pointed questions and demand answers and which publicized those candidates who participated and those who didn’t?  (I’d volunteer for the job.) 

Now, for the future.  We hear talk about Democrat primary candidates for almost any office running to the far-left base, and Republican candidates running to the far- right.  Then, the nomination secured, the respective nominees “pivot” to the middle for the general election.  Isn’t this a strategy of lying?  Do we really want to institutionalize a process in which our prospective leaders are rewarded for lying?  Haven’t we had enough of this?

(Submitted to the Winston-Salem Journal November 5, 2014)