With Democrats defending 23 Senate seats along with the Presidency, the topic of Republicans possibly gaining control has been on the minds of every politico. With all this uncertainty comes a wave of attacks from all sides. Campaign commercials, in my opinion, have become outrageous. I miss the days where commercials regarding any election were clean and relevant to the candidates’ record and values.

It has come to a point where I change the channel for every political ad that comes on my television (which is sad because I breathe politics.) I have yet to see a completely positive commercial without any mention of the candidate’s opponent. I am tired of hearing why my other option is so terrible rather than why I should vote for you on your great record and policies.

Some Super PAC commercials are very entertaining and are fun to laugh at, but that is only because I can spot the ridiculousness of all of them. I do not care which side you are fighting for: the excessive presence of negative ads this election season is annoying and I am not convinced by any of them. It frightens me that people see these commercials and will be voting solely on the negativity presented by them.

One of my main concerns about these negative ads became apparent to me while I was watching a children’s program on a children’s network. An anti-Obama ad came on about President Bill Clinton endorsing President Obama and how we shouldn’t trust our former president because he lied to us about his sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I understand that the Lewinsky scandal was a disappointing time for Americans, but not only is it not relevant to the actual endorsement, it is completely unacceptable to be airing an ad like this to children.

If you want to persuade me to vote for you, tell me your values and what you are going to be fighting for. Convincing me you are the better option by attacking your opponent is not particularly making me trust you any more than the attacked opponent. I think we need to direct our media back to the positives of our candidates rather than the negatives of their opposition. Let’s bring positive campaigning back and focus more on the future rather than the past.