1. Slinging Mud
By Matt Marcinick
Did you hear how thousands of jobs have left the state in the past four years? Did you hear
about how the one candidate worked on Wall Street and cost senior citizens thousands of dollars?
Chances are most people in the Cleveland area have heard these strong accusations. No one knows for
sure if they are 100 percent true or not, but the accusations force people to take sides in the issue. Not a
single election year goes by without the obligatory mudslinging.
Whether the contested race is for the local mayor seat or the United States presidency, negative
propaganda has become second nature. Just pop on the television and attack ads will attack your brain
with random facts that have been dug up from any number of sources. Many times the ads have words
that display the facts with a distorted picture of the candidate in the background. Unfortunately the only
option to avoid this nonsense is to shut the television off, or are there other ways to get to you?
Two weeks ago I received a call on my cell phone. I didn’t recognize the number. Curiously I
picked up and asked who it was. At first I received no answer, but then a voice that I recognized started
talking. It wasn’t one of my friends or family. Then I finally realized it was some blowhard politician
whom I heard on a commercial recently. I immediately hung up on the recording in disgust. Little did I
know that it was just getting started.
Just the other day I received a phone call asking me if I would take a survey. I made the mistake
of telling the caller “Yeah, sure.” The caller proceeded to ask me question after mind-numbing question.
I stared at the ceiling and deeply sighed as my head began to throb. Eventually he got to the part where
he asked me whom I was voting for. At that moment I lost my mind. “Mind your own damn business!” I
snapped at him and hung up the phone.
I have always been of the mindset that constituents are smart enough people to choose their
elected officials. Some may be less or more informed than others, but this is a democracy. It is not a

2. competition to show who can cut the deepest with their ads. My view is, if there are going to be
propaganda and advertisements, make the ads positive about the candidate whom they are promoting.
Debates, not advertisements, are the place to ask the tough questions about a candidate’s record as a
politician.
It does not matter what political party one associates them with. All parties are guilty of political
mudslinging. The political issues and the sides that the candidates take on them are how most typical
citizens choose a winner. There is no such thing as a quick fix to any of the problems that befall a
constituency. Any candidate that says that they can immediately change things does not know the
nature of politics.
Every time someone comes to me for political information my stomach starts to turn. I know
that those person’s views on politics are skewed to suit his or her party. I do not associate myself with a
party. Parties are corrupt and do far too much mudslinging for my taste. I just smile and tell the person I
prefer not to talk about politics.
Even my closest friend for many years makes me uncomfortable this time of year. He is a die-
hard Republican and will try to refute anything that the current president has done, right or wrong. His
father is even worse. Whenever I am at his house I just laugh to myself when they listen to Glenn Beck
and treat his words the same way I treat the words of the Bible at church.
Young people should not be affected by the negative advertisements that plaster themselves all
over the television. Voting is a great right to have as a citizen in a democratic nation. I beg everyone to
make a well-educated decision when voting. Do not be so disgusted with politics that you do not vote at
all. This mudslinging is just a ploy that politicians use to fool people.
The facts are the only truth in politics. Know them and use them.