I don’t subscribe to the rosy idea that once not so long ago American politics was a bastion of selflessness and altruism, yet it does seem as though there has been a marked decline over the last two decades of the level of political professionalism and discourse in our society.
What happened?
Infotainment happened, pop culture politics, the fall
of the political parties, and too much democracy in our republic.
Why spend years working on building party ties, meeting people and
developing educated, moderated views that result in the party trusting
you when you can put out a youtube video and tell people just what
they want to hear? Why settle for a politician who you agree with 90%
of the time when you can have someone who promises you that you can
have it all? Why look for the person who can solve the problems we
don’t know about when we can have someone who promises us they’ll make
us feel like we think we did yesterday?
American politics is a reflection of American life, for better and for
worse. With notable exceptions politicians act the way everyone else
does, few rise above the image of those who created them. Sadly,
those true Statesmen have a hard time doing the hard, time and labor
intensive work of government while competing with every clown with a
web cam back home that thinks their fifteen minutes of fame will come
through fifteen second increments of attention.
And as we look at the fruits of our tree we grow angry at what we see,
so we demand that politicians and politics be “closer” through
referendums and term limits. We bind them close through polls,
commentary, and short elections, and if they aren’t sycophantic enough
to our demands we cast them aside in favor of someone who will be.
Rather than leaders, stewards, statesmen or trustees we make them
puppets, and destroy any sense of deliberation and debate that a
republic desperately needs in order to produce wise legislation.
Despite my cynicism I do have faith in America and its people, I
really do. But at the risk of sounding like Glenn Beck, I don’t
expect the quality of politicians or politics to improve until
Americans change, until we stop thinking ourselves so wise as to mock
the educated, until we stop thinking ourselves so exceptional as to be
beyond accountability, until we stop looking for the next Patrick
Henry or Ronald Reagan, but instead look for the next Madison and
Marshall.
We can’t expect politicians to be giants among men when we demand our candidates to think and act “just like me”, while decrying those who achieve more as “elites” who aren’t to be trusted. It doesn’t matter what Washington, Jefferson or Madison would think of politics today, because were they here we wouldn’t trust them anyway. Athens fell to Sparta, and Rome fell to Caesar, but America will fall to the MTV VJ.
*This will probably be adapted later on for a larger piece I’m wanting to write, which will likely be titled (originally enough) “The Rise and Fall of the American Republic.” It’s been on my mind lately and an opportunity came up earlier (after a long day at work that left my mind only partially functional) to talk about it some, with this being a result of that discussion. So, if it looks disjointed, incomplete, sporadic or not terribly well thought out… it probably is. The next one will hopefully be better. Also, read Hel. 13: 25,26
John C.
Chris H.
David J
Brad
Feud
crazyacorn
mfranti
Thanks, Blake.
Who do you see as potential John Marshalls of today? Present company excluded, of course.
I would disagree with you in one way:
“…too much democracy in our republic” is not the problem, it is a base form of majority rule, if not mob rule. It should be something deliberative, rooted in debate and discourse.
I enjoyed this. I
I think that our shift towards more direct democracy in our system would have been just fine if the average citizen was willing to commit the time necessary to truly learn about issues and candidates while tempering their feelings to allow for open and honest debate. However, I don’t think that has been the case, and I think that our culture is steadily moving away from an environment where such could exist. The situation is especially annoying here in Arizona where virtually all decisions of consequence are referred to the voters to decide by referendum, which makes me wonder at times what the point is in having a republic to begin with (aside from it being a Constitutional mandate).
Honestly, I don’t trust the voters to make every decision, and I think we are developing a very concerning de facto checks and balances system on the local and state levels between voters and the courts. Certainly courts should have judicial review, but the frequency that such is being required due to the explosion of initiatives and referendums is resulting, I believe, in an alienation between the people and the courts, and the people and the democratic process. We can’t expect people to commit significant time and effort into being a responsible voter if they feel that their vote is likely to be discarded by a Judge whom they’ve never met and didn’t’ vote for.
As for the next Marshall, I wish I knew. I sincerely doubt though that he (or she) is to be found in the last several supreme court nominations.
has there really been a marked decline? What about John Birch in the 60s? What about anti-Vietnam War protesters? What about civil rights? What about right at the very beginning between the Republicans and the Federalists? Was there not a gun fight over politics between two certain Founding Fathers?
The fall of our Republic doesn’t have much to do with our discourse, IMHO. It has to do more with the massive economic inequality between the utterly filthy rich and the rest of the country. When someone like the Koch brothers can spend $350 million dollars in one year on politics, how can any two other people even have any relative equal say? THAT’S where our republic falls.
I wouldn’t call the civil rights movement a time of decline in political professionalism and discourse, in fact I would think that, while certainly exposing some of our worst flaws, overall raised the level of professionalism and discourse.
Further, the Federalists vs. the anti-Federalists saw the use of what we now cherish as the Federalist papers as a primary means of political campaigning, which I can’t see a modern political movement duplicating.
I concede that there probably never was a lofty time when wisdom flowed like wine and American politics was a land of milk and honey, however I do think that there has been a decline over the last several decades of the level of discourse. Perhaps it’s television, the internet, neither or nothing. Perhaps it was always there, and modern media has just given us a peak within the sausage factory, while ease of audio video editing and creation allows it to proliferate and distribute to a much greater degree.
But to a degree perception becomes reality, and so even if it was always there, I think that it’s embrace by both candidates and voters is a troubling occurrence.