Quintus's Letter To Vote Analysis

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Running for a government office can be quite a challenge, let alone running for President of the United States of America. The manipulation of citizens’ beliefs, ideas, and feelings have proven to be essential in the process of receiving votes over time. Some of these tactics were initially presented over two-thousand years ago by a young Greek citizen named Quintus Tullius Cicero. In a detailed letter written in Latin, Cicero offered general political insight to his older brother Marcus. Years later, Phillip Freeman translated the text from Latin to English and titled it How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians. At the time Quintus wrote the letter, Marcus was running for consul of the Roman Republic, which is generally equivalent to America’s presidency. Marcus was a well known orator from a wealthy family but lacked the nobility necessary to successfully persuade voters to vote for him (Freeman). Quintus’ letter to Marcus was simply a rulebook on how to successfully go about his campaign. Marcus eventually won his election by a landslide, “gaining more votes than any other candidate,” (Freeman 87) primarily due to the guidance of Quintus’…show more content…
He gives specific mentions to candidates running against Marcus, describing unethical actions that they have done in their personal lives. Cicero suggests using that information as ammunition against his opponent and focusing on why the competition would not be a good choice. While this is a great way to convince voters to not vote for somebody, it ends up shedding negative light on both campaigns in question. This is not part of Obama’s campaign because it makes him look desperate and weak. Attacking your opponent with personal insults is simply childish and completely irrelevant to the political issues that need to be solved. These rules have become obsolete and unnecessary in today’s political
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