How utterly silly politics has become. Kay Hagan gets attacked for supporting Obamacare and she bashes the Koch Brothers. Thom Tillis gets hit for ignoring sex scandals in his office and giving the culprits handsome severance packages and he blasts Harry Reid. 

When I began working in politics I was taught that the campaign is not about your candidate and not about your opponent. It’s about the voters. That adage seems lost today. 

Instead of making the case for themselves or attacking the qualifications of their opponents, campaigns and their allies are spending millions of dollars on insider conversations that most voters don’t understand, much less care about. I’ve heard that it’s about raising money. I’ve heard that it’s about motivating the base. I don’t buy it. 

I think it’s about self-absorbed, self-important interest groups and consultants who have lost touch with the American people. They are sure that the whole country is following the tit-for-tat spats going on in Washington or Raleigh. In fact, most people think very little about politics and politicians. And when they do, they think, “How does this affect me?” 

They can’t tell you who the Senate majority leader is, much less who the Koch brothers are. What they can tell you is that gas prices are up, schools are cutting their budgets and snow days cost them a bunch of money this winter because they had to stay home with the kids. And those are the things candidates should be discussing.

If candidates and their staff knew how silly they sound when they talk about the Koch-Tillis agenda or how Harry Reid is trying to pick an opponent, they would be embarrassed. Instead, they’re oblivious. Again, that’s not how anybody talks about politics except politicos. And as we know, nobody likes politicians. I wonder why. 

Thomas Mills

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >