October Surprise

In America electioneering has become a never-ending ritual. The smoke from campaign fireworks still floats in the air when the future candidates begin to position themselves for the next election. A campaign industry has grown up around American elections. The collective cost of one campaign season could be in the billions. College students can now get a degree in campaign management. Consultants of every discipline analyze and manipulate every thought, sign and utterance calling the resulting deceptions “spin.”

Whether incumbent or challenger, underdogs hope for an “October Surprise” to save their floundering campaign fortunes. October surprises come in three basic versions. The front runner makes an incredible blunder that melts down the campaign. The underdog stages a brilliant last moment coup that creates a campaign bounce as the voters go to the polls. The third version is when some external factor seizes the voters’ attention. The winning candidate will be the one with the best “Spin Doctors” who claim credit for the candidate or tag the most blame on the opponent.

To be effective the October surprise must occur in the last few days of the election so the voters have little time to think of issues and vote on an emotional response to spin rather than facts. The real October surprise is that the country has survived its electioneering for so many years.

It is said that the voters get the elected officials they deserve. This is not a positive statement for an electorate, which does not attempt to understand the issues and personalities or even vote is left with officials who have mastered spin. The victors are often incompetent and corrupt but win elections because of lack of interest in the electorate.

Such is American election history. The current election is marred by campaign strategies reminiscent of 19th century machine politics and 20th century civil rights battles.

The United States claims a democratic moral high ground but the world now watches real time television broadcast of American campaigns. America is exporting electioneering spin to Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Latin America to name but a few places. Their voters are proving more skeptical of election integrity.

The American democratic moral high ground is eroding, along with American legitimacy as the international leader. Voters need to provide an October Surprise of their own. They should demand to be treated as adults and by candidates demonstrating real honesty and integrity.