With every election, the media always makes such a big deal about how Americans are so sick of negative campaigning. But then they go ahead and report all the negative campaigns or use the “echo chamber” style of journalism to repeat negative, often unfounded or unproven, statements made by partisan pundits or other party foot soldiers who have been fed their talking points by campaign higher-ups who have a cavalier relationship with the facts.
I, for one, am sick of it. I subscribed to Factcheck.org’s updates on the veracity of campaign ads, speeches, statements made in debates, etc., and I wrote to the Kerry campaign when I felt they overstepped the bounds of politics as usual and stretched the truth. I feel that we Democrats have the moral upper-hand, despite the way Republicans are trying to spin the election and their candidate’s win. See, we stand for good things: helping out those less fortunate, trying to make sure all Americans have access to the American Dream regardless of the economic or social sphere they were born into, preserving the freedoms that our forefathers fought for, the very freedoms that led to the formation of this country. See, like Thomas Jefferson, we do “hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men (and women) are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
And crucial to happiness, I believe, is not tearing someone down because they are not our chosen candidate. It’s refraining from contributing to the echo chamber of negativity but rather focusing on issues, not persons. And so although you might see “No W” type of crafts mentioned in these posts (a way of addressing the iconography of our current president, not the person), you won’t see any “F Bush,” “Jesusland,” or “Blue vs. Red” crafts. Those ideas do not support the progressive politics we hope to promote here at Democrafts.com. They merely serve to restate and thereby reinforce the ideological divide that currently plagues our country, not repair it.
We at Democrafts.com will not stoop to that level. No negative crafting.
[Speaking of the iconography around the Bush campaign, Scott Dadich, a graphic designer, wrote an interesting opinion piece for the New York Times about the visual messages conveyed by the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards logos. You have to pay to see the article, but the graphic is still accessible on their site.]
