This post originally appeared in the Kenosha News as part of the column series, My Turn with Basil Willis – August 15, 2008

“He’s the biggest celebrity in the world,” the announcer whispers, against a montage of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. “But is he ready to lead?” I see it every morning before I leave the house for work. And every morning I shake my head and think, ‘this is how we elect our president.’

The candidates and the system hold some blame for this, but the reason these ads keep getting played is because they work. It is the same reason you keep getting spam in your inbox. If no one ever clicked on or responded to spam, the spammers would have no financial incentive to keep sending it. If the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ridiculous political ads never swayed a single voter, the parties would stop buying them. They keep coming because they work.

I knew who I’d be voting for a year ago. I knew twenty years ago. Not the candidate of course, but certainly the party. Chances are good you have known too. Unless we find out my candidate is secretly slaughtering kittens, there isn’t anything that is going to change my mind. Certainly not a commercial.

Studies show that the poor and uneducated are most swayed by political ads. If you watch Fox News by default, I know who you’re voting for. If you listen to NPR, I have a good idea who you’re voting for. But some people hear a political ad talking about lower taxes and cheaper gas and think the candidate is going to wave a magic wand and make those things happen.

For the past few elections, some media outlets and numerous celebrities are encouraging people to vote. “Rock the Vote,” MTV tells young viewers. Another campaign threatened youth with a “vote or die” message. This is how we engage our young people to participate in government. People that must be encouraged to vote are the very people that should not be voting.

In the infamous words of Tod fromthe movie Parenthood, “you need a license to drive a car – you even need a license to catch a fish. But they’ll let any [one] have a kid.” Same thing with voting. It’s your right as an American. So is owning a gun, but you need to be careful handling one, and you need to wait three days and get a background check. Anyone with a pulse and an address can vote, which helps explain our current administration.

I have become completely disillusioned with our political system. It is broken. The way we pass laws, the way we elect our leaders, the corporatization of the federal government. We can’t even count votes consistently. We need a more parliamentary form of government that is closer to a true reflection of the people, a government that is forced to form coalitions and represents more than two views. A big step would be the formation of a uniform policy for getting people on state ballots and more parties represented. That is another discussion. The first thing we need is an informed electorate.

There should be a basic civics test that must be passed before someone can vote (or reproduce, as Tod implies – man, would that solve a lot of problems). A rudimentary understanding of the three branches of government, the electoral college, a basic understanding of what the president can and cannot do in office and some competency regarding the candidates’ beliefs. There could be free pamphlets at the post office, the DMV, or anywhere, that would prep people for the simple test. I thought we had schools for that, but in talking to my interns this summer, who all seem like bright kids, they are clueless and largely apathetic about the political process.

Too often people vote because of one hot button issue that is important to them. They want lower taxes, or they want more Jesus in their government, or they are afraid terrorist are going to get us. It seems more often people vote based on emotion, of who they “feel more comfortable” with. A TV commercial, with subtle imagery, patriotic sounds and an ad agency-produced one line message, is the perfect vehicle for stoking the emotions of the uniformed.

The bottom line; voting is a privilege that needs to be treated with care. If you don’t yet know who you’re voting for, then you don’t know where the candidates stand on the issues. And if you don’t know where they stand, make a list of the ten things that are most important to you in your life and do some googling. Make some basic effort to cut through the fog of political war and find out who best represents your views. Or stay home and let the rest of us figure it out.