Politics for... you know... kids!

So my Councilman is running for Dallas Mayor. And, like a dutiful, educated citizen, I'm following the issues and keeping track of the voting records.

But that doesn't really mean anything because he has decided to campaign on an issue I had never even heard of until I read about it on his blog. A new herion-like drug called "cheese." My honest-to-goodness reaction was, "Huh? Never heard about this before. If it is such a problem, what is his solution? A larger police force (which will mean increasing the increasingly-stretched-to-the-limit city budget)? A special task force? What? And should it be the governments responsibility to raise a kid or, you know, the kid's parents???"

But, you know, it is a BLOG ENTRY on a politician's web site, so how important can it be anyway?

Right. Totally insignificant in every way.

That's what I thought until today, when he released his first commercial. Then I realized that he is building his campaign around something no one has expressed concern over or taken a vote on.



Yes, taking the stance that kids should be happy and healthy is a no-brainer for a politician. And, yes, his video editor just loves loves loves the Impact font. But should we just sit back and laugh at this video clip? Look at all the time and effort put into it. They even went as far as to subtitle the second half for the deaf, hearing impaired, illiterate, or for people who just like foreigh films.

What ads like this really remind me of was when I was younger and watched 'The 700 Club' special on the evils of rock music. I was not, how do you say, very cool, and depended on shows like 'The 700 Club' to tell me what was popular. Luckily, that show delivered the goods.

It was there that I learned about GWAR and Danzig for the very first time. When the announcer said, "Your kids are listening to this!" and then played a nice little video segment of GWAR disembowling a manequin at a concert, I knew I had to learn more about this wonderful new band.

Sure enough, a well-placed GWAR T-shirt or a masterful quoting of Danzig lyrics got me in with a cooler, more unkempt crowd who taught me the values of sneering, not bathing, and hating the world. And, after my two weeks of coolness, I went back to my fantasy novels and Billy Joel. It was too much for me to handle.

I've digressed...

We were talking about? Ah yes, the political ad.

So when I see ads like this, I think kids "as young as 10 and 11" who are so uncool that they watch political ads for fun, suddenly getting it into their heads that, if I want to reinvent myself in a cooler, more drug addicted asthetic, I can do so faster and cheaper with this cheese product. Thank you, politicians of the world! Thank you!