Reply #5: The silence is deafening.

[LWolf]

It seems like this is a topic worthy of discussion, and an issue worthy of focus.

It doesn't matter what candidate you support, and it's bigger than the primary wars.

If the media is controlling the message by hammering some, and "disappearing" others, then our primaries are a symbolic token. We aren't really choosing the best from among the whole pack when not only the starting line, but the whole damn track is unequal.

We can do the usual, and write letters to our reps asking for some kind of reform. That's a slow process, at best. Frankly, I haven't found my reps very responsive to my letters.

We could refuse to vote for those candidates hand-picked by the media. That would work if voters did it as a block, but isn't very effective done as individuals, lol.

What else can we do?

I favor 100% public financing of campaigns with no outside funds allowed, and some sort of a "fairness doctrine" to guarantee equal air time and neutral treatment from the media for all candidates.

I'd also like to see polling go away completely. It's too easy to manipulate, and it sets people up to vote, not for who they think is the best choice, but for who "the polls" tells them is everyone else's choice. That's a manipulation of the vote. Give them all an equal playing field, and let people make up their own minds, and find out what others think by actually talking to people.