My phone messages are being filled with a continuous torrent of requests for donations from our politicians. Day and night I receive texts from politicians who insist that I, a stranger they have never met, hold the key to saving their campaign. The tone is always frantic. “We are begging you.” “We are collapsing.” “We will not survive the night.” They sound less like leaders and more like someone shaking a vending machine hoping a snack will fall out. Typically I get ten or more a day from an assortmant of candidates and reps from the party I support, but also a few from the other party, as well.
What they don’t seem to understand is how desperate these messages make them look. If you want to project strength, maybe stop texting people with these inane messages. They want us to think of them as stong, bold, and worthy of our trust, yet the texts read like a cry for help from someone that’s about to drown. It is hard to trust people with the future of the country when they cannot even maintain basic dignity in a fundraising text.
Of course, most of them are not doing the actual texting; it’s more likely the hired consults and PACs acting on their behalf. That also doesn’t speak well, since the politicians are paying them to do it. On occasion when I do contribute, they often pester me again – often the same politician on the same day asking for more, making me regret my first contribution and convincing me never to donate again.
And here’s something that’s never addressed: Even when I send the ten or twenty dollars they beg for, how much of it goes to the campaign? Or do most of the donations go to the consultants, firms, and whatever fundraising machines that pump out these messages at all hours? Some reports indicate about 10% goes to actual ground campaigns, while the rest goes to more fundraising, including more texts!
It’s really insulting. It seems like they think of us as fools. They recycle the same scripts, the same fake intimacy, the same “you are one of my top supporters” line that makes no sense when it is sent to millions of people. They send countdown clocks, pretend they are texting personally, and expect us to fall for it like we have never seen a mass message before. It
Worse, every plea chips away at whatever standing they once had. Leaders who should look composed instead sound like they are on the edge of a breakdown. Candidates who want our confidence keep begging for more money. The more they text, the smaller they seem.
And, of course, making any contribution makes it worse. Once you end up in the political ecosystem, it spreads far and wide, because they sell your name. Soon you get messages from politicians you’ve never heard of, each with thier own urgent message about a deadline, a poll, or an opponent who is apparently seconds away from ending democracy.
If politicians want respect, they need to stop sounding like con men. Speak to voters like adults. Ask for support without theatrics. Show confidence instead of panic. Because right now, the nonstop texts do not make them look strong or serious. They make them look just like hucksters, convinced we will fall for anything.