A Word on the Words: Why all campaigning for the election should be done in writing

Oh good, another election.

Frankly, I get tired of the hot air and bad feeling that is generated.

In every political debate I’ve ever seen the candidates interrupt, interpose and interject while their opponent is talking.

It is terribly rude.

I don’t respect rudeness or pushy people, I respect a man or woman who can write well. Good use of language indicates trustworthiness and intelligence – traits that politicians should possess.

I would not vote for a candidate who couldn’t punctuate, spell, or construct sentences properly.

So I have a radical suggestion.

For all future elections, polls, plebiscites, referenda and ballots – let’s do the campaigning in writing.

The flaw in this plan is that most political proclamations these days are polished prose penned by professional PR people.

I’d like to see their own work. Instead of spoken debates we could train TV cameras on the leaders isolated for 45 minutes with a pad and a pen, composing arguments, questions, and rebuttals.

Then we could enjoy their esteemed electioneering epistles, valuate and venerate their vaulting vocabularies, and purr at their perfect punctuation.

Or (sadly this is more likely) groan at their grotesque grammar and splutter at their specious spelling.