Rancor in the Political Discourse

I have followed politics and the cultural aspects of it for over 20 years, and I have seen the rancor ratcheted up more and more with every political season. I have often asked myself the question, is this rancor necessary in a republic to win the hearts and minds of decision makers, whether they be political figures or voters? And I guess I have come to say yes, we are a democratic country that operates as a republic, so it has come that the louder the voice the more you are heard, or is this the case?

In America we have made a sport out of political discourse, and of course there have been times in our own country and other democracies that this has become a contact sport or even torn in violence. I would say in most instances, except for the violence, the discourse helps to settle the dust on issues for some people, but others it has a tendency to turn them off and ignore the issues. For me, it’s the earlier version of the conversation, but for my wife it’s the latter. She tends to turn off, and I tend to turn up my emotions towards the discussion. I of course like it to see it remain a discussion and not a shouting match, which sometimes happens of course, politics sometimes is a rough sport.

I’ve seen some who refer to the Fox News Channel as the Faux Noise Channel, and I suppose this refers to the opinion they do not like the level of discourse on the talking shows. I also believe this attitude comes from their feeling they do not agree with one or more of the participants of the discussion, or maybe their side of the issue is losing or has even won the day in the discussion. I happen to believe that Fox News represents one of the more, to borrow their own cliché, fair and balanced networks. They usually present both sides of an issue, and give opportunity to have the viewer make a choice on issues based on some facts presented during the discussion. My pet peeve is to watch a news show that does not offer two sides, but rather invokes an opinion or an invective to try and sway the viewer. This is probably why I now tend to watch only Fox News.

I have came to the conclusion that the main stream media has picked a side, and hones their news reports to give that side an advantage. Some will say that Fox merely does this on the conservative side. Well, guess what folks, if a network presents both sides, then appears to be slanted because of that, then stop and think about the one-sided, MSM that presents only one side every hour, every day (just think about the ABC Special on Obama's Healthcare Plan - Do you really consider that as objective news?). Do you really think the MSM, being in the pocket for the President of the United States is healthy? We will talk more about the age of propaganda in future blogs, but folks this is 'propaganda' pure and simple, don't slice it any other way.

Over the years I have followed politics and culture, I have seen the rancor very heated at times, over what I call would call somewhat petty, but emotional issues, other times I have seen critical issues discussed only by the partisans and ignored by most of the public. Now I am beginning to see a different discourse, even though it remains volatile. I am beginning to feel that people are just now starting to turn their attention away from the emotional side of politics, and beginning to focus in on the realties. We are playing for keeps, and these issues are beginning to affect whether our republic stays intact. Folks, the realities are all these issues make a big impact on all of our lives, and now are beginning to determine our future as a country. In future blogs I will talk more to the specifics of these decisions. As my hero Ronald Reagan use to say ‘Thanks for listening.’