Sheryl Crow is petitioning for the next campaign to be shorter

[mdbl]

Source: USAToday

Sheryl Crow thinks that the 2016 campaign has taken up way too much time. Crow currently has a petition on change.org — as of midday Monday, it had 32,000 signatures — for the Republican and Democratic National Committees to investigate ways to shorten and “make our election cycle more humane and something that we can all be proud of.”

“No one benefits from two years of this. … It certainly hasn’t been informative,” the singer told USA TODAY Monday. “I would like to see a shorter campaign that’s more efficient, that focuses on the issues, that becomes less motivated by the ratings." The goal of the petition is to convince the party committees to at least investigate ways to shorten the process. “We’ve not learned much more in two years than we could have learned in six months to a year,” Crow said.

Crow acknowledges that a shorter campaign won’t change who the candidates are or stop them from hurling insults.

“I don’t think that there is a petition that could be formulated that would dictate the quality of the candidate,” Crow said. But she believes a shorter campaign would make voters “more apt to want to focus on the issues and know what the candidate is about, as opposed to the sort of entertainment value and the ratings that have gone along with this campaign.” Crow has not publicly announced who she is supporting for president.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/24/sheryl-crow-petitioning-next-campaign-shorter/92678556/

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While we're at it, let's make Christmas start the day after Thanksgiving again too.

[smirkymonkey]

1. Hear, hear!

Our election process is torturously long. It's ridiculous.

[classykaren]

10. I am always hearing people say they can't wait for all this to be over.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Never gonna happen

Asking the political class to take less money? Fewer consultants, jet planes,
and limousine rides? Volulntarily? Good luck with that.

[Dustlawyer]

9. Who said anything about asking them?

Oh yes, Ms. Crow did, but we should DEMAND Publicly Funded Elections and outlawing campaign contributions. I admit it wouldn't be easy, but nothing worth it ever is. The fact that it is legal to bribe these political bastards is wrong and it needs to stop!

[EV_Ares]

3. Thank you for posting this, going over to that site to sign it and

yes, no Xmas until after Thanksgiving.

I think in Europe, they are all given the same amount of money at the start of their campaign, spend it as they want, all in one day or throughout the campaign but it is a lot shorter than ours.

Our Presidential talk starts the day after the election.

[ColemanMaskell]

4. Right, shorter time = less research time to uncover Trump-like scandals = dirtier candidates can win

and that would make it look more plausible when Swiftboat-like stories come in at the last possible minute, so the opposition has no time for rebuttal. Brilliant. In fact if we shorten it down to maybe just a few days, then even candidates like Sarah Palin can look good and keep up the public image long enough to get elected. It would put all the candidates on a much more equal footing. Trump Foundation is the same as Clinton Foundation if you look fast enough. Just effing brilliant idea. Candidates with long histories, like HRC, will have any dirty laundry already on display, so all the opposition has to do is find a candidate who hasn't gotten a lot of public attention in the past, and then rush them into office while they still look shiny and clean, before anyone has time to dig up their past. It all but guarantees that someone with a long history of service could never get elected against a freshly minted opponent. Why has nobody suggested this before . . .

[thucythucy]

18. My thought precisely. nt

[Orrex]

5. Personally I'd like "Strong Enough" to be shorter

About 3:10 shorter, but we can't all have what we want.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. That Would Leave Half The Opening Note!

Of course, now that i think of it, i agree with you. If i just heard half the opening chord, that would be plenty for me too.

[brooklynite]

7. The 2020 race has already started...

....politicos with an interest are campaigning for 2016 candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire. If they happen to make some contacts or get some press coverage...

[nolabels]

17. Major retailers are formulating their Christmas shopping setups in May

Heck, many a would-be adult politicians start thinking about running for president as children. We planted trees around our house thirty years ago so we could have some shade and it is now so. The problem is not how long it takes but more how people act during the planning and preparations.

Maybe if we had more people with some foreknowledge about how awful the Republicans where going to be fifty years ago we wouldn't be in shoes we are today. It's not how long it takes but what is the result

[turbinetree]

8. Done

[TNNurse]

11. Standing in line to vote early

the consensus was that so many were voting early because "they just wanted this to get over....sick of it".

Now this has been an especially ugly campaign, but it is also too damn long.

[christx30]

20. Yes, I voted early for that very reason.

I voted about 45 minutes after the polls opened. Now I don't really have to care at all about any of the election stuff until November 8th. I have gotten sick of the nastiness and the venom. I'm beyond ready for it all to be over.
If Hillary wins this year, I'll vote for her again in 2020. If Trump wins, I'll vote for D'Vok'nak, destroyer of worlds.

[Odin2005]

13. The primary season should start in March and the general election in September.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

14. Wheres your critical thinking skills -not the length of it that was torturous, it was the

torturous-ness of it that was torturous. Shorter is not going to make the process any less dysfunctional. Still would be a freak show and and the media hyping and playing it as the ultimate reality game show. There can and should be some kind of fix for what's broken - but this aint it.

Besides, it can be argued that length in this instance served us well. Without the media turning on DT and the public getting thoroughly sick of the sight and sound of him, we could very well have a Hitler-wannabe in office. I do think it boils down to that for a lot of people - who can you most stand to see on tv and hear on the radio every frikkin day for the next four years. I know I gave it some thought though of course it wasn't my only criteria.

[NobodyHere]

16. You don't have to pay attention the whole two years you know

Elections don't really require you to pay attention at all if you vote along party lines.

[Bucky]

19. Congress can't amend the laws of supply and demand

[ProfessorGAC]

22. This Campaign Would Have Been Horrible. . .

. . .if it started in July.

[ailsagirl]

23. THIS one was interminable-- and we're still not done

[YOHABLO]

24. "Crow has not publicly announced who she is supporting for president."

Really? Like we have to ask?

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

25. Hear hear

I might be wrong but isn't it a law in the U.K. that political campaigning be limited to six weeks out of every election cycle? I so wish that were true here.

[TheDebbieDee]

26. I'm for that! The election season is MUCH too long...

It should be shortened to start and allow fund-raising exactly one year before the date of the election. This should be standard for ALL elected offices!

[47of74]

30. I think even that is too long.

It should be shorter than that.

[riversedge]

27. msnbc just did a great interview with her.

[47of74]

29. Hear fucking hear

We all goddamn well know that people will start worrying about the 2018 and 2020 election seasons about five seconds after the 2016 race is over. Why not try living and governing in the present and let those election seasons attend to themselves.