Break the never-ending election cycle

Star News

Editorials

The 2022 election season officially ended on Tuesday as voters went to the polls at town, village and city halls across the state to cast their ballots.

There will no doubt be delays in separating out those who won from those who came in second-best as the votes are counted, recounted, the processes reviewed and the ballots certified by local board of canvassers.

If past history is any guide, the results will show a mixture reflecting the diverse opinions and priorities of the Wisconsin citizens who exercised their right and obligation to vote.

While there has been a push toward radicalization by the deep-pocketed fringes of both major parties, those seeking office would do well to remember that there is no mandate in a plurality of votes, nor even in a narrow margin victory of a few percentage points.

Despite what political pundits and others who make their living feeding like leeches off the hopes and fears of the body politic, Wisconsinites, along with most Americans, are a lot closer in their beliefs about how the state and nation should be run than they are separated.

For months the airwaves and mailboxes have been stuffed full of skewed messages skillfully designed to elicit emotional responses. Reasoned thought and examination of the issues on their merits is secondary and glossed over with such basic messages as candidate X is “bad” while candidate Y is “good” and that we should pay no attention to the man behind the curtain pulling all the strings.

In an ideal world, those who came through Tuesday’s election will have a chance to lead. It is up to the voters to decide if that leadership is up to par or if, come the next election cycle, new leadership is needed.

That is the process in an ideal world.

The reality is, just as the military-industrial complex has worked since the start of the Cold War to ensure that there is no gap between wars, the election industry recognizes that in order for the gravy train to keep running they need a never-ending election cycle.

The constant need to keep fundraising and to appease deep-pocketed donors drives the decisions of elected officials. Instead of worrying about how to best serve the people, elected officials at the state and national level worry most about appeasing the constituency that writes the checks to buy the primetime ad spots and pay for the printing of all those glossy mass mailings.

Americans must stand up to this perpetual campaigning and demand a break in the cycle. There are some who have called for constitutional changes to the election cycle with the change from two-year to fouryear terms. This would give those elected to the state legislature and to Congress time to actually govern before having to begin their reelection campaigns.

No solution will work until there is consensus on limiting the obscene amounts of money that it takes to win a modern election. There needs to be absolute caps on the amount of money that can be spent on campaigns at different levels, much like there are salary caps on NFL teams. This would help level the playing field among candidates and make sure that the voters can pick the best candidate, not just the one whose supporters have the deepest pockets and the slickest advertising campaigns.