The whole "will Gore run?" discussion got me thinking "why the hell should he?". The level of our current political discourse is so demeaning that I can't see how any reasonably sane person would want to run for president. A few days back, I posted about the "sound bite" media that is motivated by corporate commercialism. But that is only one factor in the decline of our discourse. Another is that our media is increasingly personality driven. So many of the major pundits are famous for being famous, not for any wisdom they may have. They get a lot of attention for sounding "pithy", so they look for lines that have "buzz". So we get to hear about Hillary's laugh or Edwards' hair. Because a serious policy debate would take time, and they have to cut to a commercial every few minutes. Why would Gore want to put himself through it?
Which brings me to another major problem with our current political discourse: Professional politicians. It's not a Democratic vs. Republican or Liberal vs. Conservative issue. In the current climate of attack politics, the only people who enter the arena are motivated by a desire for power and money. They have no desire or motivation to truly represent the "people". The "people" aren't funding the campaigns that keep them in office. And in national politics, the campaign never ends. To remain in office, they're constantly running for office. Thus the "Professional Politician".
What a fornicating mess we have, where government "of the people, by the people, for the people" is no longer possible. No wonder the people hate politics.
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2 comments:
What a great post. I could not agree more.
As a result of the way he pursued 2000- distancing himself from Clinton, listening to half asses advisors (his daughter included) and others, he was a cardboard cut out and I only half heartedly supported him. I did think he would win.
Well he did win. Anyway I digress.
Then he found himself. And I can't imagine that he would want to walk down the bad road again. You said it well... any reasonably sane person!
I agree with Fran. More great words on this topic.
I agree with you, too. Gore would be nutty to run. He took such a beating from the press over the years.
Sadly, we get the President we deserve because, as Americans, we're truly not inclined to take up arms against our idiot neighbors who continue to vote based on the most inane criteria like who they'd like to have a beer with....
I couldn't fight those idiots in any meaningful way other than words. I would never shoot them for being so stupid. Unfortunately, they're killing our nation and its ideals slowly with their anti-intellectualism and sheepish following of spin.
They being those who'd rather have a false sense of security instead of freedom...
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