None of our politicians are actually serious people. They are all too busy playing their particular game inside the confines of the DC aquarium, while we watch googly-eyed from the outside.
Seriousness died with the advent of the internet and the 24/7/365 news cycle, Twitter, and Facebook. Our politics is the politics of performance art--…
None of our politicians are actually serious people. They are all too busy playing their particular game inside the confines of the DC aquarium, while we watch googly-eyed from the outside.
Seriousness died with the advent of the internet and the 24/7/365 news cycle, Twitter, and Facebook. Our politics is the politics of performance art--moreso now than ever. The performance is FAR more important than the actual substance.
It used to be less problematic because it took actual effort to keep abreast of what was happening in politics. Discussion was slower, more complex, more nuanced.
Now it is all slogans and outrage. Postman had it right with his book title... Amusing Ourselves to Death.
We have gotten the government we deserve, because we fail to punish people for performing rather than governing. For posing rather than legislating with due consideration. For being unserious or even wacky.
Conservatisms only real value was as a brake to over-rapid change. Most of what has passed as conservatism in the US was rooted in the preservation of existing power structures on economic and racial grounds.
Our political infrastructure gives too much power to a minority and creates the illusion that said minority is actually larger than it is The MSM's "fair and balanced" treatment cements this illusion.
The minority is angry because they sense that they are losing power (and would have lost it if we were less biased in our political infrastructure)--and the majority culture has moved away from them.
The majority is angry because the minority blocks everything they want.
It is at the breaking point.
Any serious person is, at this point, concerned about the actual survival of the Republic and is left scratching their heads at the foolishness that we see going on around us. It is all going to end because people are too busy playing games that will end up having NO meaning.
The Republic will end with confusion and crass stupidity, almost by accident. 100 years from now historians will point out the inflection points that some of us have seen, but that many of us have seen fit to ignore.
None of our politicians are actually serious people. They are all too busy playing their particular game inside the confines of the DC aquarium, while we watch googly-eyed from the outside.
Seriousness died with the advent of the internet and the 24/7/365 news cycle, Twitter, and Facebook. Our politics is the politics of performance art--moreso now than ever. The performance is FAR more important than the actual substance.
It used to be less problematic because it took actual effort to keep abreast of what was happening in politics. Discussion was slower, more complex, more nuanced.
Now it is all slogans and outrage. Postman had it right with his book title... Amusing Ourselves to Death.
We have gotten the government we deserve, because we fail to punish people for performing rather than governing. For posing rather than legislating with due consideration. For being unserious or even wacky.
Conservatisms only real value was as a brake to over-rapid change. Most of what has passed as conservatism in the US was rooted in the preservation of existing power structures on economic and racial grounds.
Our political infrastructure gives too much power to a minority and creates the illusion that said minority is actually larger than it is The MSM's "fair and balanced" treatment cements this illusion.
The minority is angry because they sense that they are losing power (and would have lost it if we were less biased in our political infrastructure)--and the majority culture has moved away from them.
The majority is angry because the minority blocks everything they want.
It is at the breaking point.
Any serious person is, at this point, concerned about the actual survival of the Republic and is left scratching their heads at the foolishness that we see going on around us. It is all going to end because people are too busy playing games that will end up having NO meaning.
The Republic will end with confusion and crass stupidity, almost by accident. 100 years from now historians will point out the inflection points that some of us have seen, but that many of us have seen fit to ignore.
It saddens me.
I think you could be Tom Nichols' ghost writer.
HA
Nichols and I are probably in agreement about a number of things, especially our opinions of both the GoP and Democratic party.