Supreme Court ruling on money and free speech
POSTED BY: HKCavalier
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 25, 2026 22:50
VIEWED: 10274
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Wouldn't it be a HOOT to start a reality TV show based on... Choose Your Candidate!????
Sig! Sig that's awesome!
It's the perfect way to bring this to the public, they've already been preconditioned to accept reality television. Take something they put on us to distract us with entertainment and TURN it on them!
EDIT: Except... There's one problem, the media is also corporation controlled. You'd have to do it on the internet, and have it be nationwide but for local elections. You'd have to be non-profit so you keep corporate influence out. You'd have to find and "reality tv-ify" independent candidates only.
I'd start out as a parody, people like humour. Then as seasons go on, start to make it a serious platform for independent candidates. And when the parties start to think it's a tool they could co-opt, you invite them in to get completely smashed by the independents. >)
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Well, that was actually Rue's idea. But it's a great one!
How do we start? With Idol, the judges go on a hunt. It's pretty easy to tell who can sing and who can't. But what do the starting candidates begin with? A three-minute stump speech? And, who judges? Locals? A nationally-known panel? What "seat" are they running for, if any? Or is is just for exposure?
And how should we frame it? Flipping back-and-forth each week between Town Hall-style meetings (each candidate gets five minutes to debate a member of the audience ) and boxing-ring type debates? Call-in audience votes?
I could see how this could be totally trivialized, OTOH it might really shake things up!
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Put it on YouTube.
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That salt of the earth farmer, that everyone wrote off as an uneducated redneck... that gutsy ghetto boy who folks wrote off as nothing more than a criminal... provided that they give a damn about our people... THEY should be in charge. Because, in the political spectrum of long odds, THEY know more about being an American than these people do. THEY give a damn. They want to change things for the better.
Allow me to point out some problems with this from personal experience...
A - They don't WANT to be in charge.
(Trust me when I say it sucks!)
B - They are limited in effect by whatever rules exist in place to secure the status quo and prevent radical changes, some of which are there for damned good reason.
(Look at Hugo Chavez as a classic example of how good intentions can go so very, very badly when the madness of power begins chewing on a persons psyche)
C - As soon as they act, they're gonna piss off a LOT of people, not just the structures, but the people employed by, benefitting from, or supporting them, as well as a lot of outrage for not playin ball, not bein a team player, and generally being a meddling busybody - I shit you not, at least one decision was responded to by the local Development Authority (four of whom voted for me!) with the outraged cry "Who put YOU in charge?!", as if I was some kinda damn usurpatious upstart...
To which my reply was - "You Did."
And they quite immediately set about trying to rectify THAT mistake, despite that being *WHAT THEY ASKED ME TO DO* when they voted me into the friggin office in the first place.
A matter of being careful what one wishes for, cause I've found that often enough, the meanest, cruelest thing you can ever do to anyone is find out what they desire in their hearts...
AND GIVE IT TO THEM, GOOD AND HARD!
Which brings us to...
D - They're gonna be real pissed off at you for putting them in that position, and you almost certainly *will* wind up pissed off at them, cause no two people ever agree 100% on every damned thing, so sooner or later they'll piss off even the most rabid supporter at least somewhat.
E - They might be unqualified to a degree of not being able to effectively DO the job, case in point what I know about economics would fit in a thimble, and it was only the good graces that the rules allowed it that enabled me to temp-contract two people who DID know enough about it to help get things done - I note for the record they DID get the road fixed, and FOR the price budgeted.
F - There's also the inevitable interference from not only bribery/chicanery attempts, but escalating harrassment of your candidate, their family (this is what bit Ross Perot on the ass) which can go to some pretty extreme measures up to and including violence - and while in that case, whitebread suburbanties versus a ghetto thug was a no-contest proposition which made it a dead letter from get, it *IS* going to be a problem.
Not tryin to rain on your parade here, just pointing these things out before you put your boot in the beartrap, as the key to pulling stuff like this off is being three steps ahead of the other guy and perhaps a bit, ummm.. "inspired" - to put it kindly, besides.
-F
ETA: Don't EEEEVEN *think* it, no.. HELL no, okay ?
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Gotta throw in some UFC style action...
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"Allow me to point out some problems with this from personal experience...
A - They don't WANT to be in charge.
(Trust me when I say it sucks!)
B - They are limited in effect by whatever rules exist in place to secure the status quo and prevent radical changes, some of which are there for damned good reason.
(Look at Hugo Chavez as a classic example of how good intentions can go so very, very badly when the madness of power begins chewing on a persons psyche)
C - As soon as they act, they're gonna piss off a LOT of people, not just the structures, but the people employed by, benefitting from, or supporting them, as well as a lot of outrage for not playin ball, not bein a team player, and generally being a meddling busybody - I shit you not, at least one decision was responded to by the local Development Authority (four of whom voted for me!) with the outraged cry "Who put YOU in charge?!", as if I was some kinda damn usurpatious upstart...
To which my reply was - "You Did."
And they quite immediately set about trying to rectify THAT mistake, despite that being *WHAT THEY ASKED ME TO DO* when they voted me into the friggin office in the first place.
A matter of being careful what one wishes for, cause I've found that often enough, the meanest, cruelest thing you can ever do to anyone is find out what they desire in their hearts..."
Allow me to retort.
A hearty "FUCK YOU. THE PEOPLE PUT ME IN CHARGE EXACTLY BECAUSE OF YOU BASTARDS."... would go a looong way.
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So, BYTE, carrying this idea forward... which I believe has true merit!...
Hell, I've even got my stump speech and gimmick half done. Because, you see, I would be the candidate you never see .. at least not until the end! My image would be a blank, black shield. And my stump speech???
I'm here today, not as Republican or Democrat, young or old, black or white, but as a blank shield. YOUR shield. YOUR candidate. A candidate for all of you: nurses and farmers, plumbers and teachers, mothers and fathers, busboys, waitresses, all of you.....
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I'm sorry. All I can think of is that joke - an honest politician is one who, when they're bought, STAYS bought !
***************************************************************
Nevemind.
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"This is our moment, this is our time to turn the page on the policies of the past, to offer a new direction. We are fundamentally transforming the United States of America." -Barry O.
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." --Article II, Section I, U.S. Constitution
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
I'm here today, not as Republican or Democrat, young or old, black or white, but as a blank shield. YOUR shield. YOUR candidate. A candidate for all of you: nurses and farmers, plumbers and teachers, mothers and fathers, busboys, waitresses, all of you.....
"Busboys???"
Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com
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