Actually, the answer is simple

and can once again be found in the old adage, "Follow the money."

People who give money to politicians

want to buy influence. Just say to someone, "I want to see you,"

and you'll often get an answer that is a variant on the theme of "get

lost." But just say, "I'm on the magazine gift-giving patrol

and I want to see you to give you some money," and you'll probably

hear, "Come right over!"

Smart politicians know that,

and so do smart members of the public. But let's follow the money and

see what happens to it.

You guessed it! A lot of it

is spent trying to raise more money, through all kinds of solicitations.

It's amazing the excuses politicians use to scare money out of people.

Usually, they hint (or say outright) that something or other you like

is in danger of being taken away from you. Your money could be taken away

in taxes, your Social Security benefits could be cut, your guns could

be taken away, your religious values or liberties could be threatened.

You think of it and these guys will try to exploit it.

The next step is spending what's

left of the money on TV commercials designed to influence those who are

susceptible of being influenced that way. The key here is saturation.

That, by the way, is the same technique children use on their parents,

but with a twist. You can have a child who whines, whines, whines, and

finally you say, "I give up," and give the child what he wants,

confident you'll at least be rid of the whining.

Commercials are designed to

do the same job. The advertiser wants your brain to reach the stage where

you unwittingly think, "If I vote for this guy like he wants me to,

maybe he'll go away." By election day he will, but believe me it

won't be because you voted for him.

There's a lot of manipulation

in the political process, but thankfully a lot of us Americans have been

trained to resist and thwart the influence peddlers. Moreover with e-mail

we can now compare notes on politicians with each other, and smoke out

the most undeserving.

Here are a few rules and techniques

on handling politicians.

1. Give them no money. It's

like giving peanuts to the elephants at the zoo, it only encourages them

and spoils their diet.

2. Try and find out who gives

them money. These are the people who'll be looking for favors later. The

information is pretty much all there in reports filed as public records,

and I must say I don't understand why the newspapers don't go look it

up and publish it all.

3. Consider voting for the

politician who raises the least money, not the one who spends the most.

Of course, if the candidate is a complete flake you can move up one notch

on the list. If nobody wants to buy your candidate by feeding him contributions,

that's a good sign he's not for sale and that's good. Moreover, a candidate

who can resist spending a lot of money on his campaign is more likely

to resist spending public money on pork-barrel projects and other unnecessary

items.

4. Disregard party label. Politicians

who realize they can't be elected on one party label simply switch parties.

We have liberal free-spending Republicans just like we have conservative

tight-fisted Democrats. Don't be fooled by the label: it's just that,

a label. A banana is still a banana, no matter what label you put on it.

2002 is an election year, and

the political manipulators are gearing up for business. Not everyone's

sense of smell has been developed enough to alert them to the traps set

for them, so it is wise to sound the alert now, before this year's campaigns

get under way.

Let's force the candidates

to compete on the basis of their character and the worthiness of their

ideas, not the size of their wallets.

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayetteville

[email protected]

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