attack ads

Brian E. Konkol 9-07-2012
photo   © 2012   DonkeyHotey , Flickr / Wylio.com

photo © 2012 DonkeyHotey , Flickr / Wylio.com

"In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve." – Alexis de Tocqueville

With the Democratic and Republican national conventions behind us, and an increase of political campaigning in front of us, we recognize the timeliness of the above quotation from Alexis de Tocquville. In a democracy the citizens choose their government, thus we indeed receive the government we deserve. As Lisa Sharon Harper recently stated:

"In its purest form, politics is simply how we organize our life together in society…in a Democratic Republic like our own, the [people are] ultimately responsible for the policies, laws, and structures that guide daily life. As we vote for candidates and ballot measures, we shape our society."

With such thoughts in mind, we affirm the collective ability to “shape our society," but we do so not only through the ability to choose our candidates and pass ballot measures, but we also possess the capacity to shape the process of how our leaders and policies are selected. In other words, while many complain about the high quantity and low quality of political campaigns, we are confronted with a harsh reality: In a democracy, we get the political campaigns we deserve. 

Jeannie Choi 7-29-2011

Here's a little round up of links from around the Web you may have missed this week:

  • Moving photos of the memorials in Norway.
  • The racial wealth gap continues to grow wider.
  • Would you eat it?
  • A smarter food label, as conceptualized by Berkeley design students.