For a while now, I've seen students post their homework[usually large essays or interesting projects] as Blogs here. TIme for mine. oFTo

This was a write-up of an article, I was supposed to find one regarding Conspicuous Consumption, but I had to find a more vague one due to procrastination on my part. Enjoy?

Write-Up of an Article Pertaining to Conspicuous Consumption
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-illinois-congress-fundraising-20120417,0,3226297.story)
Remi Vales
2012


[Summary of Article]
While providing a quick recap of the congressional primaries, and more importantly, their costs, this article takes the time to look at how the politicians are spending their “war-chests”, citing “Federal reports [that] show where political money is” as their source for this information. The article is a little vague on where these millions of dollars have been spent, however, and that detracts from what was initially perceived as a very informing piece. Were the funds dumped into Campaign ads? Attack ads? Discussion panels? It does not say, even though that is probably what most people are wondering after reading.

[Interesting Element]
Something that stuck out a bit to me was how it cost over $4 million campaign dollars used in 3 Democratic primaries to settle who goes further, yet roughly $2 million (almost HALF the cost of three) to settle a victor between GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Donald Manzullo. This comes across as a bit ironic, seeing as how most GOP Candidates of any nature tend to count “reduced spending” as a Pro for themselves. How is spending nearly $2 million a good example of how you'll act once elected? This is not to be misinterpreted as an opinion, and is based on the general Right-Wing attitude towards Government, though that alone may sound opinionated.

[Evaluation of Article]
I'd like to start by saying that a definite Pro for this article is its quick and concise coverage of the Primaries, which is useful for us who have not paid much attention. Not many people pay much attention to these seemingly small-yet-important changes in political office, yet they certainly feel the impacts later.

A Con to that, however, is the lack of information regarding where the money went. As a citizen, albeit under-age, I would like to know why it cost roughly $1 million per candidate to partake in this. I understand that perhaps the Federal Elections Commission did not have access to this info, although that seems a little unlikely considering its name and according responsibility. Had the article not said “Federal reports show where political money is as campaigns gear up for general election”, this would not be held against it.

(Small) Pro for the article, it protected itself by never specifying whether it would deliver a break-down of the costs, or if it would merely report the bulk numbers. This is also a Con, as the article lacks clarity in this regard.

[Opinionated Banter]
My opinion on the huge sums listed in this article is this; Stop wasting it on attack ads. I know rhetoric is a key tool for all Politicians, especially negative rhetoric regarding what an opponent has done, but the resources wasted in the process is just astonishing. It would be far more effective to set up discussion forums/meetings with the public who you are representing, and make your causes known directly, instead of partaking in the annoying back-and-forth of padded “facts” about opponents. This has the added effect of making you(potentially) a more likeable candidate. Plus, with the increasing amount of people switching to the Internet for entertainment and Television, buying airtime for a mere “Candidate Jones is a very bad man” announcement becomes such a blatant waste of resources.(unless purchased on Network TV, but news is so much more convenient in text-form.) The potential savings on resources could be pooled and used as a small patch in the State budget, for one.(although I am not sure if that is even legal/possible.) However, we all know it would never happen that a Politician contribute to fixing a constant burning issue.