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Why does everything have to be held up to a standard of political correctness nowadays? Lately, it has pretty much become obvious that people are very careful about what they say to certain people, because they will be slapped with accusations of being politically incorrect ? which, of course, includes words like ?discrimination?. It’s fascinating to note that linguistically, we had evolved in such a way that things that were either once admired or thought of as something that one isn’t exactly a person’s fault are now thought of as negative or something to be held against someone ? just because we are, as a world, deathly afraid of offending what is perceived to be a minority that has become aware of its powers to claim certain rights.

Like what was previously mentioned, words like ?discrimination? have been waved around by people as things to be shunned. In the past, ?discrimination? meant discernment, a particular skill or ability to recognize the subtle differences or distinctions between two or more things. To have discrimination, in some senses, is to have a refined taste. But now, ?to discriminate? is almost exclusively used to define anything that involves treating a person or a group of persons as if they were less than equal to one’s self or one’s peers.

Another favorite example would be the term ?homophobia?. A comedian had once commented that ?phobia? is a crippling fear of something, and as such, homophobic individuals (or homophobes, as they are colloquially known) really should have more sympathy for their plight. Other individuals with phobias were given the necessary support for their condition, while homophobic people are shunned, called ?sick? and often berated by others by their so-called insensitivity. The entire spiel was funny, but what made it better is the fact that it made people think about the words used to describe how people react to each other, and about what words we use to identify prejudice.

It seems that in a world that is hell-bent on becoming politically correct, we had ended up with a language that is politically incorrect ? or at the very least, a language that is sorely misused. Homophobia especially, is an obvious misnomer in that it is more like a hatred of homosexual individuals than a fear of them.

Another fascinating effect of this global culture of political correctness would be the fact that in our quest to expand the reach of rights to include everybody, other rights, such as the rights to expression, have been curtailed. Granted, certain expressions such as violence and the like could hardly be beneficial to an increasingly interconnected global society. Still, the fear of offending apparent minority groups have made us believe that tiptoeing around certain issues would be better than confronting it. It seems that rather than dealing with potential conflict, we simply fold to the apparent whims of these people. Furthermore, in an attempt to elevate the status of the minority, the double standards have been switched around.

An example of this pretty much relates to things like religion and race. Not too long ago, in London, a sixteen-year-old student had protested the fact that her expression of her Christian faith ? a purity ring that symbolized her commitment to chastity before marriage ? was deemed ?against school policy? by her local school. The fact that Muslim students in that same educational establishment and area were supposedly allowed to wear their full-faced veils just made things worse ? it seems that the majority is now expected to bend over backwards to make the minority uncomfortable. Why is it, one has to ask, that the Muslims are allowed to openly display their faith to the world while the Christians are not?

And it seems that any frustration that the majority has expressed over this obvious double-standard is currently viewed as a kind of bigotry. Why is no one allowed to be angry about this? Is this not also a kind of injustice? In the end, we are going back to a time of closed lips and silence, fostering inequality while at the same time claiming we are working for equality. It is truly, horribly, frustrating that the concept of political correctness has come to the fore, when at the end of the day all that really matters is honest and genuine kindness.

The problem may very well be that people are expected to be like everybody else, that people are expected to bow down to the norm. These days, the norm would be acceptance or, at the very least, tolerance. But one cannot expect everyone to feel the same way about women, men, homosexuals, different races, and different faiths. This is not to say that hatred should be fostered, but it begs the question of why discomfort with ideologies and lifestyles should not be understood and expressed. If we are indeed living in a world of tolerance, dislike of certain things should be tolerated as well as the acceptance of certain things.

We need not develop a new vocabulary to describe this state of affairs, for in the end, shouldn’t this be a matter of the heart and soul?

A wave of political change has been sweeping across the continent of Europe. In country after country, the politics of liberal, high tax, big government have been falling like dominos. It started in Germany with the election of Angela Merkel. It visited France with the victory of Nicholas Sarkozy. It was in evidence in Italy with an historic rout of the Communists and the Greens in parliamentary elections. Then, it hit England last week when the Labor Party suffered its worst local election results in 40 years.

In fact, in contests for more than 4,000 local seats across England, Conservatives captured 44 percent of the vote, compared to 25 percent for the Liberal Democrats and just 24 percent for the Labor Party. The election result was so bad for Labor that Boris Johnson became the first Conservative Party member ever elected mayor of London. Overall, it was an election that Prime Minister, Gordon Brown admitted was “bad and disappointing”. Certainly, the prospects in the next general election for the Labor Party are now looking grim.

Meanwhile, a new BBC public opinion poll suggests even more trouble ahead for United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In the poll, Tory leader David Cameron is seen as more effective than Brown or Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

Often volunteers are asked to place political yard signs at specified locations for a candidate but are not provided tips on the best way to place them to maximize their effectiveness. Utilizing some important tips can increase the visibility of the sign and improve the chances of people remembering the name on the sign.

The Proper Sign Angle

Placing the signs at approximately a 90 degree angle to the nearby road will allow drivers to begin reading the election signs as soon as possible. Drivers often only have a few seconds of time to glance at a sign and digest the message, so placing election signs at an optimal angle increases the chances that they will be read.

Don’t try and grab the attention of all the traffic on the street. When election signs are placed at corners, place them so they are ideally situated for one direction of traffic and not all four. If volunteers attempt to get the attention of everyone driving on the street the sign will probably be difficult for everyone to read and the candidate will not be able to take advantage of a great location. Spending the extra money and placing election signs on all of the corners is an excellent strategy.

Height Placement – Political Yard Signs

Experts recommend situating the election signs a half a foot to a foot from the ground. Signs attached to poles or fences and placed up high are typically not safe for a driver to read while traveling down the road.

Study the area and decide the likelihood of the sign being stolen or damaged. Find out if there is a history of sign damage in particular neighborhoods in your voting district. You can still place election signs in the area but don’t place your large signs made from expensive material. Placing your signs in public property areas will increase the chances of it not being removed.

Target Particular Voters

It’s not enough just to place sign at heavy traffic areas. If you want to get the attention of young voters place the political yard signs near shopping malls and at their entrances. Place them at nearby colleges and areas of town that are known for nightlife.

Position them at office centers to increase the candidates name recognition with business people. Situating them near schools will increase name recognition with adults who take their children to school. Popular movie theaters and grocery stores are other excellent locations. Shopping centers are good locations when targeting women voters.

Distance From The Road

Check with your local officials regarding how close the political yard signs can be to the road. Most cities require signs to be more than 10 feet away from the road. Also, if they are being placed on actual lawns whether on public or private property keep in mind that the lawns will occasionally be mowed and signs can be damaged or removed from the ground.

Selecting high traffic locations and appropriate places for target groups as well as properly situating the election signs can significantly increase the number of people who will notice the signs and increase the readability of them. It’s important that staff and volunteers be trained to effectively place political yard signs in order to increase a candidate’s name recognition.

Clumping

Often signs that are placed in groups of three or four properties in a row can give the impression that there are more supporters. This concept of clumping yard signs together can also make a smaller number of signs look like more that what really there. If you get a yard sign request from one residence be sure to ask the residence on either side for their assistance in your campaign sign placement.

Dandelion signs

Every spring, overnight it seems, the green landscape changes to a sea of yellow spots as the dandelions bloom. The reason this change in nature is so noticeable, is because it happens rather abruptly. The same technique can be applied to how you put up your yard signs. Candidates who gradually release their yard signs are missing out on a lot of the impact a political or Business sign can have.

The best way to catch people’s attention with your signs is to map out 90% of all your yard sign’s locations before your signs even arrive. Then on one evening get all the volunteers you can muster together and put the majority of your signs up all at once. The next morning, your constituents will drive to work noticing the vast change in the landscape. Suddenly they want to know; what this new candidate all about, and why are so many people rallying behind them. First impressions are everything, and this can be an effective “wake-up call” to not only the voters, but also your opponent, and shaken opponents tend to make irrational decisions.

Timing

Probably the most frequently ask question we hear is, “How far out should I put my signs in the ground.” While the consulting community has debated this issue for years most would conclude that you want your signs to be release when people have their minds on elections. For most elections this means signs should go up about 30-40 days prior to early voting. (For elections that do not have early voting 30-40 days from the actual election) If signs are put out much sooner than this people begin to get used to seeing them and they forget what they’re even about. Yard signs sent out much later than 20 days loose the effectiveness to become household names.

What is it that is button-less, collarless, and pocket-less, with a round neck and short sleeves? What is perhaps the most comfortable and ubiquitous garment in the world? A Tee shirt that?s what! And what is it that makes a political statement, declares electoral allegiance and shows support for the candidature or other cause? A political tee shirt that?s what! Every time the elections roll around, there is a fresh innovation in the world of tee shirt design, and there is a slew of Graphic Tees, or funny tshirts with a political message that start gaining popularity instantly. Political tees can be used to make any kind of statement be it on the environment, democracy, freedom, war and peace or electoral candidate.

There is a whole lot of funny tshirts inspired by President George W Bush and not in a nice way I may add. So it is that you have a graphic tee of a diminutive Bush, with an elongated shadow behind him that of the evil character from Star Wars, Darth Vader, complete with brandished sword, with the caption Dubya Vader! Here?s another: Who would Jesus Bomb? The answer is just a picture of a silly smiling Bush.

Then there are those tees that declare you to be a conservative or a liberal: here is a really funny tee; I?d rather be a conservative nut job than a liberal with no nuts and no job. Or what about this one that claims to list the Top Ten Good Things About Liberals and then has a list with numbers 10 to 2 left blank, and the number 1 being They Die Eventually. Even though the message is a little hostile you can?t help but smile. And here is one that does not mince any words about what the wearer thinks about Liberals: I just neutered a cat. Now he?s a liberal. Then of course there are all of those Tees which declare to all and sundry who you are going to vote for in the next election.

Graphic tees can be used sometimes be used to make a serious political statement, say one relating to the environment: A stark black tee with a monochrome picture of planet Earth on it, bears the slogan There is no Planet B, an effective way to remind people that we need to take care of mother Earth it?s the only one we have! Another thought provoking one would be a plain tee with the drawing of a tree on in, only the branches of the tree look more like the human brain and the words Think Green printed on it compel you to think.

As the 2008 Presidential Election goes into high gear, people from cities such as Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe and La Jolla in San Diego to cities such as Laguna Beach, Anaheim, Irvine and Yorba Linda in Orange County, from Santa Maria to Santa Barbara to Ventura and Oxnard, to Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Fullerton to Indian Wells, Palm Springs, Palm Desert and La Quinta both individuals and candidates are having questions about campaign election finance laws and are looking for a California campaign election finance lawyer who can advise them.

In the world of political campaign finance law, in the past few elections, the most important issue has been soft money. Today, soft money is still important, but it ranks with the money being raised and spent by national party committees and with the greater use of the internet, 2008 has brought individual contributions to a higher level of importance that ranks in importance with soft money and national party money.

While soft money or unregulated money can be spent for any advertising that stops short of expressly advocating the election or defeat of an individual, it is that broad definition that allows it to still be used in advertising that goes so far as to allow the advertising to mention a candidate, and virtually call him or her out for their position on an issue. Such advertising is in many cases blatant negative advertising.

Corporate and labor PACs raise money from restricted individuals. Labor PACs raise money from their union employees, corporation PACs from managerial employees and stockholders and their family members.

In the last 60 days before a federal election, PACs hands are untied and they can not only advocate political issues but also mention federal election candidates in their in their advertising.

Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, an organization becomes a political committee by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1,000 to influence a federal election.

A 527 Group (which falls into the category of soft money) avoids regulation by the Federal Election Commission because they allegedly use and raise money only for the advocation of issues. Because the line between issue advocacy and candidate advocacy is so thin, the use of these groups is a source of heated debate about soft money. These Groups are not bound by the same restrictions on PACs.

An example of a 527 Group in the 2004 federal election campaign was the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth which ran advertisements on television that blatantly attacked John Kerry. The Group was later fined by the Federal Election Commission for specifically advocating the defeat of John Kerry. But by then, the damage had already been done.

Different rules apply to state and local elections. An individual intending to campaign for any elected office needs to know election finance rules and should consult with a political campaign finance attorney as soon as possible in forming their campaign.

Those who think that Islam is a religion, think again. Islam is a political project that is designed to spread Arab imperialism throughout the world. You need only to take a look at Islam ideology and see how fast it has spread over the past few decades to see for yourself that Islam is a political project.

Political campaigns can be tense and stressful. There is so much to do and often not enough time to do it. If you are a candidate or campaign manager, you should not be without a button maker machine. These machines will help you with some of the most critical areas of your campaign – getting the word out, addressing issues, and rallying support. Not only will buttons help acknowledge the issues and rally support, they will do it inexpensively and that is a word that any campaign manager likes to hear.

Mass mailings and phone campaigns take time and money. Postal rates continue to go up as well as the cost of paper, printing, and labels. You need paid staff or volunteers to organize the mailing list and put the mailers together for shipping. A great percentage of these mailers will never be read or even opened. The recipient who has other more important things on his or her mind will classify these mailers as “junk mail” and toss it in the trash. However, if you and your staff are wearing buttons, you are inviting the viewer to ask you questions. This gives you one on one face time with the public to answer directly and discuss the issues important to you candidate and party.

Your volunteers are some of the most important people you will deal with in a political campaign. They give their time and efforts in order to see their candidate win the election. Buttons for your volunteers are great for inexpensive nametags. Making buttons for your volunteers with the candidate’s name, party affiliation and the date of the election will help them be identified in public. This is especially helpful if your volunteers are doing door to door campaigning or are out at a public event. Buttons are a great conversation starter and will give your volunteers an opportunity to tell people about your candidate and the issues he or she cares about.

Rallies are another great opportunity to pass out buttons. Political rallies are high excitement and these buttons with your candidate’s name and what he or she is running for can be sold at rallies and fundraising events. Speeches and debates are other events that these buttons can be worn or sold at. These buttons will help accelerate the campaign and give your candidate name recognition.

Educating the voters on the issues is a major part of any election or race. Making buttons that read “Vote No on Amendment Two” will let people know just where you stand. Getting the word out about how your candidate or party wishes to vote is important. Buttons with the date of the election and an encouragement to get out and vote is equally important. A button that reads “Vote on November 2nd” will remind everyone who sees it to vote and this will enhance the odds of your candidate’s success.

Fundraising events are a part of every campaign. Contributors to your campaign can receive buttons that say “I support John Doe”. The campaign slogan should be made into a button and either sold to raise money or given away at party meetings and fundraisers. These also make a great keepsake for the candidate and the voters.

If there are particular activist groups that support your candidate, then make buttons with their organization name stating that the organization supports your candidate. This goes along way in showing that your candidate cares about that group and its agenda. For example, a button that says “John Doe Supports Local Commerce” given out to the local businesses will encourage others with that same feeling to vote for your candidate. You can never thank your supporters enough, and having custom buttons with their group name and the election year on it will be a keepsake at the close of the election.

Urging people to vote is critical in this day and age. Elections have become closer and every vote counts. Making “I Voted” buttons to give away after voting has taken place can encourage other people to step up and be heard as well. Make sure that you have some buttons made up with the date the voting takes place and encourage your staff and volunteers to wear them. If no one votes then no one gets elected and no issues are resolved. Buttons are a great way to remind people to perform this great civic duty.

You have probably already seen buttons in the political arena. Some of the major reasons those political parties and campaigners use buttons is that they are handy to pass out, inexpensive to make, and people will wear them. Buttons get your message out, identify your support staff, and encourage the public. Be it for the presidency or the local town mayor, every candidate and political movement should have a button-making machine.

Creating an effective political sign is an important factor for any political campaign. Having the correct size and color combinations and a minimal amount of wording are always important, but there are other strategies involved to make sure campaign signs are able to have an impact on voters.

Political Sign Timing

Probably the most frequently ask question we hear is, “How far out should I put my signs in the ground.” While the consulting community has debated this issue for years, most would conclude that you want your signs to be release when people have their minds on elections. For most elections this means signs should go up about 30-40 days prior to early voting. (For elections that do not have early voting 30-40 days from the actual election.) If signs are put out much sooner than this, people begin to get used to seeing them and they forget what they’re even about. Yard signs sent out much later than 20 days loose the effectiveness to become household names.

Placement of A Political Sign

Select high traffic areas, such as entrances to high activity shopping malls, store fronts located in popular areas, as well as busy intersections with stop lights. Placing campaign yard signs near schools can be a strategic location as the signs will be noticed by parents driving their kids to and from school. When it comes closer to voting day, signs placed near a polling location can be effective for voters who have not yet decided who will receive their vote.

Ask volunteers to call or go to the homes of supporters and ask them if they will allow a political sign in their yard, especially supporters living on busy streets. Volunteers can even knock on doors of residents who are not listed as supporters, particularly if they belong to the same political party as the candidate. This type of neighborhood canvassing also provides a good opportunity to drop off brochures or other political material.

Train volunteers in how to properly secure an election sign and how to place it strategically so that it can be easily seen by the greatest number of people. The angle in which the signs are placed can be an important factor at some locations. Volunteers and staff need to be fully aware of the regulations for sign placement to ensure that your signs remain in place throughout the entire campaign period and are not removed due to improper placement.

Amount Of Campaign Yard Signs

Order more signs than you plan to use since theft and vandalism can often be a problem. For efficiency, assign volunteers in advance to the task of replacing signs. Volunteers should frequently check to see if campaign yard signs have been removed.

The volunteers might receive the approval of more residents than expected and extra campaign yard signs will prevent candidates from missing out on these important opportunities. Some experts suggest campaign organizations order 25% more signs than they expect to use since reordering signs at the last minute can be costly.

Experts suggest ordering approximately one yard signs for every 30 registered voters.

By following these simple guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to a successful promotion of your favorite candidate!

We all would like to see certain political changes. For some of us this might mean a return to fiscal responsibility. For others, a government that respects the rights of all humans may be the goal. But whatever our preferences, many of us feel like there is no hope with the existing choices of candidates we get each time around for president or for congress. The only solution that is commonly presented is to vote for the best of the choices offered. Of course this means voting for the “lesser of evils” for many of us. And whichever one that is, it still means we vote for a candidate we don’t want and for policies that go against what we believe. What is the alternative? Political Changes From Withholding Votes Don’t vote if you don’t like the choices. Contrary to what many say, there is no obligation to vote, especially when it means nothing more than giving your assent to a government you don’t want. And the argument that starts, “What if nobody voted…” is just silly. You and I know that there will always be millions of voters for every lesser-of-evils election. How does this help accomplish the political changes that you want? It doesn’t do much by itself, although a non-vote is at least a vote of no confidence for the existing system, and as such makes a statement. But along with a few other key actions, it sets up the conditions for real change: A changing political climate. You see, people will vote anyhow, and the candidate who is closest to the views of the populace will often win. Rather than cast one little vote for a non-choice, then, your time is perhaps better spent changing the minds of those who do vote. Change them enough and you may someday get a candidate that actually represents your interests and principles. Okay, changing the political climate sounds tough, doesn’t it? It doesn’t have to be, and none of has an obligation to spend our time and money convincing others of anything. But if you choose to do something, why not start with little steps. Buy the books of those authors who represent your convictions, and so encourage and enable them to write more. A few good books can go a long way towards changing people’s minds in time. Contribute to those causes that you believe in. Whether that is a communist party or a green party or the Libertarian party, it makes a difference. We know that for the moment there is no chance of a third party getting a candidate elected as president, but they do bring up issues that the Democrats and Republicans then feel obligated to address. When you vote for candidates with bad positions, you encourage those bad positions and policies. When you support good ideas, you at least help drag those bad candidates in a good direction. Here is the complete recipe for meaningful political changes: Speak your mind, support good ideas, consciously withhold support for “lesser” choices, and vote only when there is a candidate you truly want to see elected. If enough of us follow this plan we might have more candidates worth voting for someday.

Political parties are like co-operative societies

Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.

After the invention of concept of democracy, political parties came into being or we can say the people who were politicians gave birth to this concept of democracy in the world. The politicians wanted their absorption and for that purpose they introduced the system of elections and then they established this voting system and when voting system was there, they needed candidates. The voters were already existing and they needed candidates. They formed the present party system. Some people joined together like people joining co-operative societies and they distributed the status amongst each other. Some were appointed as presidents, some as vice presidents, some general secretaries and some were enrolled as executive members. Others were enrolled as ordinary members.

They are the people who started taking places of rajas, maharajas, monarchs and then even the imperialists. They started election system and they are the people who enabled themselves to stand as candidates and all the people were converted as voters. We have noted that these people could take the position of rajas, maharajas, monarchs and the imperialists and the people at large became simple voters. At the time of elections these political parties came forward and started raising false and empty slogans and thus they could attract people and could get their votes. The people i.e. the political party which could win majority could form a government and the parties which lost or remained in minority, they formed opposition. In India, it is on record that there had been family rule, there had been party dictatorship and then individual autocracy. Now one party having majority has stopped and now the political parties are joining together in alliances and they are forming governments.

Most of the political parties have got no principles nor they are interested in the development of the country they rule. They just come forward with empty slogans and they win elections because most of the people in democracies are not properly educated and that is the reason they are not understanding what is hidden in the hearts of these politicians. They do not know that these politicians are not willing to become public servants and that is the reason, most of the elected governments just work in routine matter and they just pass time and then. Where political parties are not having any principles or basics with them, there the people just change the government and they start believing that they have done something great. But in reality they just change the set of people and the new set of people who occupy the seats of power and not better than those who are vacating the seats and that is the reason the governments go on without any progress in the country.

The people in politics have formed these co-operative societies and they have distributed seats amongst themselves. They are allowing others to enter the parties, but against admission fee and sometime they sell the party tickets and sometime they also sell the ministries. They divide the money they collect as per their own adjustments within the party and they are also sparing something for party fund.

We have noted that all these politicians with all their separate parties, they are one from heart and that is the reason they are taking seats of power by turns. They may be raising minor objections in the functioning of government, but they do no speak much about the scams, scandals, muddles, bribes, corruption, sale of jobs, quotas and the licences. They know that tomorrow their turn shall come and they too shall be doing the same crimes, therefore, they are not speaking against these items and that is the reason that in most of the countries public funds had been misutilised or mis-appropriated, but none has gone to jail nor this money had ever been confiscated or refunded to the state exchequer. Who so ever had collected money that remained with him and that is the reason this class of politicians have turned rich in such democracies.

Since there is no alternative, the people are bearing all this bungling and they are not shifting once again to the rule of rajas, maharajas, monarchs and the imperialists. No body knows what shall be the next form of government, but it seems these politicians shall not leave this field and now more and more people are joining this line because it gives money and power both and the man starts running in crores. That is the reason that in India there had been a family rule, there had been a party dictatorship and then there had been individual autocracy. Now we are running in alliance system, but here too people are taken in on their merits, but they are taken in on the basis of their strength in the government. Till these politicians rule a country, we would not find people on merits and we should not expect any major development in the country The politicians would never allow intelligent, wise and meritorious people in the parties because once such entries are allowed, the people without merits shall have to be ousted and such a course is not favouring them. The politicians are not there to serve the nation, but they have taken up this line as a profession, trade, calling and employment and they are investing huge amounts just to win elections and form a government. Then they divide ministries as is done in a partnership business.

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