Today was election day here in San Francisco.

When I first started getting election pamphlets in the mail months ago, I simply tossed them into recycling along with the junk mail. Eventually, it struck me that there seemed to be a lot, so out of curiosity, two weeks ago I started collecting them, putting all the various election pamphlets I’ve received in a pile. All unread.

Last night, I sat down to read them all, with a fresh cup of coffee.

There were so many, it was almost as tall as my coffee mug. Reading them all took hours.

Having avoided all the political TV/radio ads, reading these flyers was my first real exposure into the style of the election ads going on all campaign. Reading them all in one large pile like that was a bit of a culture shock, and frankly, disappointing.

Lots of “dont vote for the other person; they’re corrupt/evil/wrong! Instead you should vote for me; I’m honest/good/correct”. All the pamphlets were very destructive of the other candidates. Calling them “attack ads” glosses over the personal destructive nature of these pamphlets.

Very few leaders, with positive and open constructive discussions.

This doesn’t bode well for my hope of seeing elected officials working together to solve some (any!) of the pressing problems facing us today.