My First and Only Political Article
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At least I hope so.
Recently, I was involved in a political discussion with one of my brothers and his wife. We went back and forth concerning various political figures and philosophies. After a half hour or so, my sister-in-law exclaimed, “well, you just hate everybody!”
I won’t go so far as to say that I hate both parties, but I do admit to not being overly pleased with either. At various times during my life, I’ve voted for both Democrats and Republicans. There was a time when that wasn’t such an uncommon practice. But now I would be branded a pariah by both parties for having the audacity to vote for the other.
And thus lies the problem.
We have a political world where bipartisanship is as rare as a vegan in a Texas barbeque joint. To even suggest compromise, much less take part in it, is to be the worst type of disloyal member of either party.
What ever happened to statesmanship? What ever happened to the elected official who would sit down and actually have a conversation with someone from the “other side”? Where are the politicians who recognize that they have more in common with members of the other party than they think and do not consider them to be evil people for holding different views?
I put the origin of this attitude with talk radio back the 1990’s. Radio hosts during that era, built a following of listeners by ranting, raving, and demonizing the other side. It wasn’t enough to say that the other side was wrong, they also branded the other side as evil. These shows weren’t journalism, they were entertainment, and their major goal was to build a listener base, not to report accurate news. And build a listener base they did!
The same tactics are still in use. The media companies certainly won’t change direction as long as their viewership stays high. The problem is that these rabid listeners and viewers are the ones who most bombard their elected officials with calls and emails, and they do it with the same uncompromising sentiments as the talk show hosts. When that is what politicians consistently hear from their constituents, you can bet that their rhetoric and voting practices will fall in line. After all, their number one priority is to get re-elected.
