Thank God the Louisiana governor’s race is over. The real victory here is that the incessant barrage of brutal attack ads by both candidates and their affiliated PACs has gone silent.
Our months-long internet nightmare of flashing, gif-infused block ads and 15-second videos warning us of the horror that is either John Bel Edwards or Eddie Rispone has mercifully come to an end, writes Business Report Executive Editor J.R. Ball in his new opinion piece.
Once again, it’s semi-safe to check e-mail. Opening an old-fashioned mailbox is no longer fraught with the danger of being on the receiving end of a blitzkrieg of oversized, heavy-stock political flyers. Phones across this state have gone blissfully quiet now that the robocallers and text spammers have temporarily laid down their arms of programmed vitriol. Honestly, did any of us really need 15 recorded calls from Donald J. Trump to have a clue about which candidate was POTUS’s chosen one?
What we didn’t hear amid all the charges and counter-charges of filth and degradation over the course of their campaigns was one word about what either of them would do to address the actual challenges facing a state that’s the football equivalent of Vanderbilt—minus the really smart people.
Equally disturbing is if either Edwards or Rispone did manage to muster the courage to say anything resembling insightful or substantive, the response, most assuredly, would have been a thermonuclear takedown from the other camp or its minions.
In our current political climate, substance is suicide, Ball writes. That depressing reality is not courtesy of those seeking office—or the armada of consultants, PACs and special interest groups who do the strategizing and waging of political wars. No, blame for this depressing reality falls with the voters.
As the chasm that is our political divide widens, the only thing that matters is winning. And that doesn’t happen when some candidate or party has actual thoughts on how to address a problem, provide a service, grow the economy or educate our children.
Consequently, how can anyone realistically expect a meaningful solution—which, heaven forbid, might require a modicum of sacrifice and compromise—when giving an inch gets one fired in the next election?
Read Ball’s full column, in which he elaborates on the consequences of winner-focused politics. Send comments toeditor@Businessreport.com.
