Should negative advertising in political campaigns be banned?
The reality of this question is “who decides” what is negative. In a free society based we cannot afford to hand out such power without losing some of our own rights and freedoms. Democracy does not work that way…it slowly becomes something else that people do not seem to fear but should. We have laws protecting us against slander and lies and courts to interpret them. The backlash against negative advertising should be public opinion and ultimately is if apathy does not overshadow it. In the end, I look at it this way. If a candidate did for an office evaded paying taxes he legally owed and took bribes from lobbyists to line his own pockets, then the fact that it gets advertised in a political campaign is not in my mind “negative advertising”…it goes by another term, “the truth”. As a public, we should want to get to the truth. Those in the political and advertising genre walk a dangerous line when they fall short of serving anything but the truth for it will ultimately backfire w
