I’ve been a bit perplexed by this election season. I’ve decided we’re stuck in a real-life version of the 1989 film classic, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You remember the one—the globe-trotting, action-packed search for the Holy Grail. I’m reminded of those prophetic words near the end of the film, “...choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you...”

These would be good words for voters to heed on November 2nd. Unfortunately, we’re caught between a false set of choices due to the political messaging that we’re bombarded with via every type of media on a 24-hour basis.

The Republican messaging, with its recent “Tea Party” flavor, is generally “All government is bad.”
The Holy Grail – Eliminate government and let the free market rein. 

The Democratic messaging, with its recent panic attack at the loss of the public popularity contest, is “Save government. It’s best for the little guy.”
The Holy Grail – Let’s keep our government operations on track.

I think the Republican Party is at its most disingenuous these days when compared to the past two decades, using those poor “Tea Party” chumps (most of whom are on Social Security and Medicare) to try to prevent government from curbing the worst of the free market abuses (I’m a free market person – and I can tell you that the ethical among us want protection from all of the unethical business entities).

I think the Democratic Party seems to be populated by fearful sycophants. They’re afraid to be the party of ‘good government’ (which is what we need) because introducing a accountability and good business practices would cause consternation among their traditional supporters.

My advice to voters: Choose wisely. Look for candidates who believe in good government – government that provides reasonable protections (regarding health, land use, safety, economics, etc.) to us all – government that is willing to apply standards, accountability, and good business practices. The candidates are out there in both parties, Republican and Democrat.  But we need to turn off the campaign advertising and look beyond the party-line messaging. If you take the time to explore each candidate’s positions and background, you should be able to choose wisely.

The hypocrisy of the year award has got to go to CBS. If you remember, there was quite a protest by pro-choice organizations about CBS’ decision to air during the Super Bowl an ad featuring Tim Tebow, paid for by Focus on the Family—a politically influential evangelical group founded by James Dobson. The ad, whose slogan is "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life," features Tebow—who wrapped up his University of Florida career with a Sugar Bowl win this month—and his mom, Pam.

Pam reminisces about being pregnant with Tim while on a missionary trip in the Philippines. She fell ill and was advised to have an abortion. She ignored the advice, and the rest is BCS Championship history.

There was a call from a large number of women’s advocacy organizations to pull the Tebow ads. But, in an interview with Reuters, CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said that they no longer had a blanket filter on advocacy submissions for ad slots. "We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue.”

But what about the commercial CBS turned down for airing in the Super Bowl—an ad for GoDaddy.com, in which a retired football player "finds his feminine side" and launches a lingerie company? And, in early February, the CBS Corporation and Neutron Media Screen Marketing rejected a paid advertisement from the NORML Foundation, the educational arm of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) that was intended to appear on the CBS Super Screen billboard in New York City's Times Square.

The fifteen-second ad, which asserts that taxing and regulating the adult use and sale of marijuana would raise billions of dollars in national revenue, was scheduled to appear on CBS' 42nd Street digital billboard beginning on Monday, February 1, 2010.

Representatives from Neutron Media approached NORML in mid-January about placing the ad, which was scheduled to air 18 times per day for a two-month period. The NORML Foundation entered into a contractual agreement with Neutron Media to air two separate NORML advertisements, and produced an initial ad exclusively for broadcast on the CBS digital billboard. Days after NORML submitted the ad, the organization received the following e-mail, dated February 3, from a Neutron Media representative which stated, "I just received word from CBS and they will not approve your ad. If CBS changes their morals we will let you know."

I think all ads should run—regardless of their advocacy position. So, in the interests of equal time, see the GoDaddy.com ad at http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/01/post-168.html.php). NORML's 15-second animated advertisement is available online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tqW9Kj8DVU.