Politicians using the Delta for photo opportunities
Our View: If they don't plan to actually help impoverished areas, politicians should just stay at home.
During election years, places historically known for high levels of poverty are always overrun with politicians looking for a photo opportunity.
They parade around places like the Mississippi Delta and the inner cities with hoards of cameramen taking pictures, shooting video and claiming that improving the standard of living in those areas will be a main priority if they're elected.
Year after year they come through and shake a few hands and give everyone a chance to tell their grandchildren about the time that Bill Clinton came to the Delta. Yet year after year, the changes are minimal.
It's all a publicity stunt. It seems politicans rarely actually care or even know anything about the areas they are visiting and they exploit the poverty in those areas to gain votes and to make themselves look humanitarian.
How much recent legislation actually has made life easier on people living in inner-city Chicago or Alligator, Miss.?
And they wonder why the voting rates are so low in these areas.
It's not fair to give these people - who sometimes desperately need something to look forward to - false hope. It's not fair to use documentary-style news coverage year after year to bring attention to problems that the entire country is already aware of. It's not fair to seduce the residents of Greenville, or another town with hopes of a better school system only to leave without satisfying the people.
Unfortunately, in this situation, there is no real way to hold politicians accountable for their actions. It sounds nice to say "just don't vote for them," but how can anyone really know how sincere they are in their promises until they get elected?
Maybe it is appropriate to ask all visiting politicians to just stay away.
There is already enough footage from previous fruitless visits to know what's going on until some helpful legislation is actually passed.
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