© 1995-2008,

by Surly

America is not a sane nation and Americans are not a politically rational people. We are moved by image and rhetoric. We have succumbed to the spell of the spin-doctor and the sound bite, producing immediate emotional reaction rather than thought. We have become so used to our politicians equivocating, dissembling, lying and switching positions as the winds of political pressure and the polls indicate they should follow that we have lost appreciation for principles and integrity. We can't follow logical, political debate. Nor do we have the patience for the deliberate discourse that democracy requires. Americans have become spoiled, expecting immediate gratification in every aspect of their lives. Our politicians just reflect this trend in the American psyche.

Many Europeans think that America goes crazy during election campaigns. They are probably right. We present a political circus. Their politicians find it difficult to deal with us in diplomatic relations during those campaigns. As a nation, we act unsure and do not restabilize until the election is over. But America has always been roughshod in its political process. Our campaigns have sometimes turned into brawls. It has never been a careful, deliberative process.

What passes for political debate does not pass muster in principles of forensic debate. Our politicians will not allow themselves to be presented in a public forum where a clear win is based on logical principles and facts. The politician who presents the best image is the perceived winner. Yet we still seem to be concerned with issues rather than personalities. But we are slipping toward that cult.

Why do we not demand principled political debates that would inform us of a politician's knowledge of issues and reasoning abilities? Why do we accept equivocation? Shouldn't we demand straight answers from those we elect to govern us? Our behavior as a people isn't sane. Thus we forsake our best interests by allowing our political system to slip into a chaotic state.

Politicians have always tended to equivocate or lie to seem agreeable to everyone to be reelected. They like the power of office. However, there have always been principled politicians, a minority, to be sure. But the people eventually demanded a firm stand on an issue. When a politician votes on a bill then he must take a firm stand to support or reject it. Too often we do not know a politician's stand until after the vote.

Democracy requires an informed electorate. That, we are failing to deliver as our educational system falters. And there have always been powerful business interests in America who have curtailed this broad education so that a vast work force who are incapable of independent thought could be manipulated and exploited. Other politicized groups are now attempting to censor that broad knowledge and presentation of alternative views in our schools to create one political viewpoint.

Americans also have a tendency to let their politicians govern, as if they know better than the people. Most people don't care to be involved in or concerned about politics. They are content to be led or ruled. But this seems a typical human trait. Only when a political act directly hits our pocketbooks do most Americans begin to complain and look at political issues. We allow lobbyists for special interests to influence our politicians and vote our fears rather than rational decisions. Is this a self-defeating belief? In a rational system politicians should be better informed than most of the people. Many politicians elected recently are no better informed than an average citizen. Owing to the increased complexity of our society now politicians are required to know more than is humanly possible. Therefore, some citizens must be well-informed and committed to the political life. It is the duty of all citizens of a democracy.

Private campaign financing has become a blight of the system that allows excesses of political manipulation. Why do we still allow candidates to be bought and sold? Shouldn't campaigns be financed out of the treasury, giving each candidate for a particular level of office the same amount? This would go a long way to rebalancing the inequities of our political system and curtailing the feeding frenzy that characterizes national political campaigns. If we want a fair system of government we must stop private campaign financing.

That Americans slavishly cling to the two major political parties and do not attempt to create others or join the few alternatives that might make a difference, were they to have the numbers, is not a rational behavior.

The results of our political process prevent us from considering and enacting legislation for long-term solutions. We want immediate solutions. And we don't want to take a hard look at our real problems, most of which are old, ingrained and should be an indictment of our society. It appears that the problems that come to the fore are not the most important ones. Perhaps this is deliberate misdirection by special interests or else we cannot face the soul-searching of real social criticism and the prospect of social reform. We cannot prepare for the future this way.

It's not that any nation has ever had a totally rational political system that is an indictment of our system, but that America, which prides itself in democratic reason, so lacks it.

Perhaps the best illustration of an issue that we are loath to face is sexuality. Americans are not sane in their beliefs about and responses to sexuality. We are a sexually immature society that cannot discuss and deal rationally with this most basic of human behaviors. Thus too many of us are ill informed and sometimes sexually dysfunctional. Misinformation about sexuality abounds in America. Our national psyche believes sex to be both dirty and fabulous, a contradiction. We are simultaneously afraid of and desirous of sex. Controversy reigns over whether anything about sexuality should be taught in public institutions or over what about sex should be taught and how it should be taught. At least is is being discussed, but the rhetoric is often too emotional and biased and little based in fact, which reflects our discomfort.

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