IT is probably not a coincidence that the campaign season for national elective office starts at the same time as the Christmas season. The similarities are unmistakable.
In a sense, it is completely appropriate. The voters are, in effect, Santa Claus for the candidates, offering elected officials all sorts of goodies. These include the benefit of putting relatives and close friends on their staff and, of course, on the payroll of the taxpayer.
Elected officials are given a generous personal and office budget that is the envy of any management employee of a major corporation. So many expenses can easily be included in disbursements for “consultations” that the rest of us would consider personal and not business-related. But when an elected official takes someone out for lunch or dinner, we know that it is in the interest of serving the people.
The relationship between children and Santa Claus is also like the relationship between candidates and voters. Santa Claus prefers children who have been nice and candidates want that same evaluation by the public. So the campaign season has a significant focus on convincing the people that a candidate deserves lots of presents—or votes—because they have been “good.” Candidates know that voters—just like Santa—keep a list of those who have been naughty.
Christmas is a time for making lists of people whom we want to remember and for whom we need to buy gifts. No one wants to forget buying a Christmas present for “Tito Jun,” and “Lola” deserves something special.
Candidates do the same thing. Examine a candidate’s political platform, and you might see that there is a gift for almost everyone. It does not matter where you might stand on the social-economic ladder; the candidate has you covered. Wage increases for the salaried, incentives for business owners and “safety nets” for the poor; it is all there on the candidate’s gift list.
Children are taught that it is better to give than to receive. But they are also taught it is acceptable to make a list of the things they want for Christmas. Politicians are the same way.
The candidates’ gift-giving list is also a gift-receiving list. While it may seem that an elected official overflows with generosity, if you look closely, most of their generosity is, in fact, a list of things that they want you to buy. When a candidate says that they want to provide a program to help alleviate youth unemployment, that is a “gift” to jobless youth. But, on the other hand, that is a “gift” request that the candidate wants you to pay for.
But Christmas gift-giving can also be disappointing. You take time to buy a special gift for special people and not only do they not give you something in return, but after the initial smile and “thank you,” they walk away and ignore you. The same is often true with electing your special politician.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano