On Tim Pawlenty and Straw Poll Politics

            Today, Tim Pawlenty announced he was dropping out of the race for President of the United States of America. I for one was discouraged by this. Now, I do not, have not and would not support Mr. Pawlenty as a candidate for President of the United States of America. Still, I take issue with his dropping out this early in the game. He went for broke participating in the ‘Pay – to – Play’ Iowa Straw Poll and got 3^rd place, behind Bachmann and Paul and ahead of his more persistent peer, Santorum. Now I understand that one cannot, in modern day, post Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission, run a nation wide campaign with no money.

            Let’s face it. To compete, especially if you are lacking the attention from the Mainstream Media that Tim Pawlenty was, you’ll need money for merchandise -including yard signs and tee – shirts and for campaign ads on radio and television and the internet. And that’s not including the price of maintaining a staff and traveling around everywhere to campaign and stump, let’s face it; running for president in America is an expensive endeavor. But this still leaves me wondering. The Iowa Straw Poll is a fundraising event held by the Iowa Republican Party to raise money for the party. It is also a huge media event where everyone who is anyone in the Mainstream Media Culture comes out to get as much footage as they can and to put their two cents in about the candidates. What it is not, however, is a legal or binding caucus or primary. By the laws of the FEC, no candidate must legally drop out of the race based on the results of the straw poll, and yet because of the emphasis the Mainstream Media puts on the winner of the poll, candidates for the nomination scramble around spending money like Paris Hilton to buy the most votes and win the Straw Poll.

            As we saw with Mr. Pawlenty, if they do not win, after putting all their chips on the table, then they may be forced to drop out of the race. And it seems to me that this is just as the Mainstream Media wants it, it allows a chance to thin the herd early on which takes away from potential voters what could have been their favorite candidate, before they ever even learned about them.

            If you have a candidate you support for president, than support them. Tell your friends, family and neighbors about them, campaign for them and even give money if you can afford it. But don’t sit idly by, because if you do, then your favorite candidate could be the next Tim Pawlenty. The Mainstream Media does not own the electoral process. Big corporations do not own the electoral process. Politicians, pundits, figure heads and talking heads do not own the electoral process. We, the people, own the electoral process. And if we the people are dedicated and driven, we can elect anyone we want to. If we’re idle and apathetic, if we give in to a two – party system, a ‘lesser of two evils’ mentality, then we will be stuck in a plummeting downfall for a long, long time.

In thought,

Alexander Thrasher

"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."