OUR COUNTRY’S POLITICAL “PERFECT STORM”

Christopher Ebbe, Ph.D.   3-25

(There is always a danger in generalizing about groups of people, but I have tried to be fair here, and I believe that the generalizations to follow are meaningful even if they don’t apply to everyone in an identified group.)

Our country’s politics is in a maelstrom, like a “perfect storm” concatenation of factors, that is affecting our ability to work together politically.

Democracy requires an informed electorate that can make good decisions regarding whom to elect.  Our citizens are for the most part uninformed, either because they pay no attention to the issues or because they opt to listen to and watch only the purveyors of information with whom they most agree, thus closing off opportunity to see both (all) sides of an issue and making things seem simpler than they are.

Because they don’t know how our government works and because they have little idea of history—especially the history of politics in various countries, our citizens can’t judge for themselves the likely truth of what they are told.  They choose to believe what feels good rather than figure out what is true.  The purveyors of information do not separate opinion from fact, because they are primarily interested in their own survival and profit, as well as in swaying the vote of the listener/viewer.  Politicians are willing to abandon truth in return for being elected, and citizens get no training in separating truth from fiction.

Citizens are encouraged by politicians and podcasters to see things in an overly simplified way and to be roused to action by emotion without reason.  Rousing slogans (Make America Great Again; Take Back America; Help Is On the Way) are given to people instead of greater understanding of the issues that we face.  Currently citizens are invited to feel aggrieved, to feel mistreated, and to be angry by leaders who wish to take governmental power from “the establishment” which many voters have viewed with suspicion for many years, due to things like income inequality and being told that they should accept people (gays, transgender, immigrants) that they do not understand and do not wish to accept.

The values gap between half the citizenry and the establishment is exploited by podcasters and internet news purveyors who wish to overthrow the establishment, promising citizens power and more money.

Our schools do not teach the nature of democracy and what it requires from citizens, many of whom believe that they should not be burdened at all to maintain democracy but should rather be provided with opportunities to get the increasing amounts of money that they need to continue buying.

Newspapers and TV news, which were the mainstay of informing voters before the rise of the internet with its invitation to everyone to say what they believe without requiring any factual justification, have emphasized the sensational over the factual underpinnings that we all need in order to calculate the likelihood of anything being true.  Since citizens can’t tell the difference between truth and lies (and don’t care to tell the difference), newspapers, which have the greatest opportunity of educating citizens, are dying because few people want to pay for them when they can have “free” internet and simple, emotionally satisfying ideas.

Consumerist values are predominant in our country, inculcated by endless advertisements promising happiness and success for buying.  Philosophers offer nothing better to people, and traditional churches, which should be standing up for the Christian values of love and compassion, are losing out to info-churches that preach that God wants Christians to take power and destroy their enemies (anyone they disagree with).

People wishing to be elected to state and national legislative positions see that negative advertising and pushing grievances gets more votes than seeking what is reasonable and compassionate, and they respond to this reinforcement by identifying enemies from which they will protect voters (by fighting for us).

Many members of Congress wish to be re-elected more than they wish to take care of country’s problems, so Congress has for decades avoided controversial topics (immigration, taxation, national debt), thus ceding power to the President, which has encouraged Presidents to seek even more power.

Establishment politicians on both sides are partly responsible for citizens’ lack of interest and knowledge about government, since they preferred to be left alone to do their business behind closed doors, providing citizens with little substantive information about possible alternatives regarding the important decisions being made.

Everyone ends up angry, and few speak up for calm and reason.  (There are some legislators who try to be calm and reasonable, but they are in the minority and get little attention from the press, which seeks dollars by getting people’s attention through sensationalism and negativity.)  There is no visible leadership aiming to get us out of this spiral.

Any of these groups could, theoretically, calm this perfect storm, but selfishness on all sides practically guarantees that it will not end.

Citizens could get interested in learning from history and actually understanding how the government works, but they prefer to be angry and burn something down.  Citizens could recognize that politicians who seek power rather than wish to serve the country will ultimately harm our country, but right now Trump followers see only the allure of being in power themselves for a change, and they see violent change in government as highly justified.  Unfortunately, uses of power tend to induce the other side to use power even more strongly when it gets back into control, so only thoughtfulness and maturity could prevent a spiraling, naked power struggle.

If citizens dislike and distrust government, they could do the work of creating good government by voting, going to city council and school board meetings and writing to the President, but they don’t, because it takes them away from their entertainment and most don’t like conflict and speaking up publicly on unpopular issues.  Citizens could also create a political party with the mission of governing with the needs and wishes of all Americans and not just those of liberals or conservatives (viz., No Labels).

Legislators should be “the adults in the room” and take back functioning that they have ceded to the President out of fear of doing anything controversial, but they selfishly prefer to lead the mob and get re-elected.

Legislators could work on legislation that would benefit all Americans (immigration policy, climate change policies that both sides agree on, reducing the national debt and not reducing taxes further), but too many (70%?) put their careers above the national interest and want voters to elect them rather than electing the best person for the job.

Our courts could slow the destructive methods being used currently to look effective by government officials, but they have no actual power to enforce their rulings.  They could use contempt of court more often but may be fearful that this would seem to many to be “weaponizing” the court.

Our two major political parties are in a futile battle to the death in which winning is the only focus, regardless of how the country will be affected.  They would do better for the country if they competed for which party would do the best for all Americans instead of only for the extreme wings of their own parties.  Political parties should have platforms that take into account all Americans’ needs, but they benefit from attracting people with extreme views who are the most likely to favor divisiveness (and the most likely to vote in primary elections).

Schools could teach citizenship and history, but that could bring canceling by culture-warring parents who see conspiracies everywhere and wish to preserve what they see as morality and tradition.  Schools could teach students how the system really works, in all its glory and darkness, but they fear parents who don’t want their children to see the bad and be upset.

Any of the players in this drama could change it, but perhaps democracy is demanding too much of us!  Anyone who wants to intervene in this perfect storm must find ways to demonstrate convincingly that seeing other citizens as fellow Americans and equals produces a better life for us all than to create enemies and battles for personal gain.  The raw truth is that far too many people in these entities are putting their personal advantage over their responsibility to participate in and support a sustainable government for all the people.

Living our individual lives as examples of rectitude and integrity and treating everyone with courtesy and respect do help the situation and are particularly important for leaders.  The President, especially, has a great influence on the public tenor.  Amity and willingness to understand are greatly increased by public examples of openness, respect, and courtesy by officials.  Finding ways to make such ideas readily available on the internet is obviously necessary, too.  The challenge to view everyone as equals is especially great for liberals, who have marked difficulty respecting and having empathy for people with less education and who have more traditional values.  Do you view everyone as equals, and do you treat them with courtesy and respect?  Could you do this, in order to save our democracy?

Our natural selfishness and combativeness make it seem unlikely that the above groups will ever break out of our current “perfect storm,” so it is up to the voters to change the tone and direction of things (“voters” is a subset of “citizens”).  I still firmly believe that democracy is preferable to autocracy, and I still believe that the majority of people in our country are decent and want to live peacefully with all their neighbors, but we need them to speak up more for truth and against the lies that many are making in the media.  In order to do this, they need the backing of more politicians and fact-sources.  Here are a few things that would help.

• Think about the truth of what you are about to say before you say it.
• Accept that you don’t know the whole truth, and neither does anyone else.
• Consider whether we would be better off compromising (working with those who have different opinions from ours) than fighting.
• See every American as a political equal.
• Treat everyone with respect and courtesy.
• Vote in all elections!

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