In the final analysis, it shouldn’t
matter that only a small number of political candidates can afford to buy their way into
the public consciousness via major media campaigns.
Television advertising may be prohibitively
expensive, but space on the Internet is virtually free.
The Web also offers a much better way to present views on today’s complex
issues than 10-second sound bites on TV news.
The only real problem is, how will voters
ever be able to check out the fresh and carefully-reasoned views on a new candidate’s
web page, if they’re never heard of the candidate, and thus would never think to look
for him online?
There's a simple solution: just create a consolidated candidates’ site,
where all candidates in a given race can summarize their views and positions.
Candidates should also be able to insert links to their own websites, and to other
external material.
To make a consolidated political web site
really come alive, add a candidates-only discussion forum, which anybody can read, but
only the candidates can update. Let the
candidates whale away at one another however they like.
Given enough time and space, any lie, distortion, fib, fudge, half-truth, or
bald-faced hypocrisy can eventually be exposed.
The result will be a better, more thorough, and potentially much more lively political
discourse than we’ve seen in a long time.
We also have no lack of organizations that
could cheaply and easily create an effective site of this type. Any number of newspapers already have usable
discussion-forum capabilities on their web sites. Salon.com
is another possibility. So is the League of
Women Voters, which has been inching closer to this kind of concept with every major
election, and now mainly needs just to stop trying to get candidates to categorize their
positions in overly structured matrices, and give them more freedom to express themselves
however they see fit.
In the end, it doesn’t much matter who
sets up such a forum, as long as somebody does.
If political candidates can be heard by the
voters without needing enormous media budgets, it will finally be possible to wean them
from their demeaning dependence on large campaign contributions, or at least replace them
with people who have not yet become afflicted with this addiction.
On the other hand, if we fail to provide
them with a lower-cost way to get through, we might as well stop kidding ourselves with
talk of reform.
© COPYRIGHT 2003
ROBERT WINTER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
More effective use of the Internet can reduce political candidates' dependence on campaign contributions.
