Voter Candy

   Over the years, I have observed many varieties of the basic technique of getting a child to go where you want them to go or do what you want them to do by offering them candy.  The children don't really desire to do what a person wants, but they will in order to get the candy.  I cannot say that I am a big fan of these techniques, but I admit that I have used them under desperate situations. 
   Right now, I would describe what President Obama and his campaign are doing as resembling this technique.  Let's call it VOTER CANDY.  Here are some of the examples of what I call voter candy:
1. Gov't help with foreclosure                       Target:  Homeowner who should not have bought that home
2.  Payroll Tax Holiday extension                  Target:  Wage-earners
3.  Unemployment Benefits extension            Target:  The unemployed
4.  More stimulus proposed                          Target:  Union workers (teachers, police, etc.)
5.  Budget with no entitlement reform            Target:  Seniors, food stamp recipients, etc.
6.  Telling colleges to reduce tuition               Target:  college students, parents of college students
**The above items all involve spending government money or the promise to spend government money. 
Then there is what I consider the most devious of them all, because it is an example of Pres. Obama telling a business that THEY must provide the candy.
7.  Free contraceptives                                  Target:  Women, anyone wanting to practice safe sex

   It needs to be noted that whenever there is a target audience for this vote candy, there is also another group that suffers as a result.  Government money doesn't grow on trees (although they sometimes just print it and make the debt bigger); it comes from taxpayers.  Usually it comes from income taxes, and in this case, that means the ones suffering are the more successful, hard-working ones, and half of America does not suffer at all.
   As you can see, Pres. Obama's tax candy goes to a very large group of Americans.  The Obama Campaign is counting on Americans to accept the candy and cast their vote to re-elect the President.  I don't think most Americans are happy with his job performance, but they may just fall for the candy.
   Allow me to give you another aspect of VOTER CANDY.  Let us suppose that a teacher promises candy, and then the principal puts his/her foot down and says no candy is to be given out.  In this scenario, even though the teacher gives out no candy, the children still see that teacher as being the hero for the effort to give the candy, while the principal ends up being the mean villain.  The principal may have very good rationale for not allowing the candy, including the possibility that the school could not afford the candy.  In other words, the teacher just needs to make the promise, not deliver on it, in order to maintain her favor in the eyes of the students.  The same thing could be said for President Obama.  In some cases, he knows the GOP will step in and say NO to his proposals, but because he at least tried, he may still be in good favor with some voters.
   I hope you realize that such techniques generally only work on children, not adults.  As for me, I would rather go out and get my own candy. And I have always had more respect for folks that do not have to use a gift to get them to be liked by others.

I would love to hear from you if you know of other examples of voter candy.  I have the feeling that my list is not complete.