What would happen if, when you are running for office, you are banned from saying anything about the other guy – you can talk about only yourself. This is what I want to hear: what you believe, what you are planning to do, why you are the best choice. I don’t want to hear what you think of anyone else running; in fact, I don’t want to hear anything about anyone else. I want to hear about you. If you are going to run an ad, tell me why I should vote for you, NOT why I shouldn’t vote for anyone else.
And while we are changing the way we do things, let’s apply the same rules to ads in general. Tell me why I should buy your product, not why I shouldn’t buy someone else’s. Let’s ban talking about any product other than your own in advertising.
Maybe we should really go nuts here, and ban lying totally – either about your own product or another one, either about your own candidacy or any of your opponents. Whoa! This feels good – it may seem a little pie-in-the-sky, but what if it’s what most of us want – could we do it?
Frankly, I don’t see why out-and-out lying to someone should be considered free speech. Let’s get back to honesty, at least a little. Thanks for listening – it felt good to get that off my chest.
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