It’s over.

 

All those endless political mudslinging commercials that interrupted every program I wanted to watch over the past six months.

 

They’re all gone until the next round, which should start again sooner than any of us would hope for.

 

I know political advertizing is a form of free speech. It’s nothing new. Politicians have been running commercials for decades. But I think candidates and their political parties have gone way overboard lately.

 

When I started writing columns years ago, I decided I wasn’t going to write about two subjects - religion and politics. No matter what I could write about either, it would bound to cause controversy.

 

So I don’t. 

 

I won’t take sides when it comes to the big issues, even though I have my opinions.

 

This column isn’t about the issues. It’s about the political process. Politicians want to win, and it seems they’ll do or say just about anything to swing voters in their favor.

 

But with all the negative ads that saturated every form of media, I think many voters just got tired and zoned out whenever a political commercial came on TV.

I know I did.

 

One candidate (or party) would run an ad, saying their opponent wanted to raise taxes.

 

“That’s horrible,” we’d say.

 

Then the other party would talk about how their opponent wanted to increase healthcare premiums.

 

“That’s horrible, too,” we’d say.

 

What neither party or candidate must have thought of was, sooner or later we’d say, “they’re both horrible.”

 

So at some point, if we wanted to vote, our decision wouldn’t be based on the ads, but on our gut feelings - or in many cases, our chosen political party.

 

In that case, those opposing political ads just cancelled out each other. It was millions of dollars spent, and hours of commercials - all for nothing.

 

But the worst part of the process was it’s potential negative effect on the voting population. I wonder how many people decided not to vote because they felt neither candidate was worthy of being elected to office. 

 

Voter apathy isn’t just about being too lazy or indifferent. Sometimes people make a conscious decision to stay away from the polls because they were disgusted about all the negativity.

 

There has to be a better way to get people to vote than making an opponent look horrible. Maybe some day, candidates will be more civil and talk about the good things they hope to accomplish.

 

But in the meantime, I don’t expect much to change.

 

And by the way. 

 

I voted.