/deep breath
How dare I?
Am I not paying attention? Am I living in some ivory tower? (Synthetic ivory, of course.)
Seriously, wake up and smell the feces, John. This is supposed to be the darkest age of our politics. Our elected representatives can't agree on anything. Obstruction for obstruction's sake is the new normal. Gridlock is expected. Our news programs consist of people screaming past each other. Our candidates for president spent in the vicinity of $2 billion in 2012. What's worse, that last figure ought to be shocking, but there's precious little outrage about the amount of money in politics.
Then, of course, when disagreements arise, which is always, everyone is compared to Hitler, all the time. Because that's an effective way to make your argument and draw people to your side. It's also super-mature.
Oh, but that's not all. Not even close! That's only one and a half paragraphs! An all-out assault on truth has surfaced in the past two decades, during which candidates are not punished for lying -- instead, the media "reports" any obvious lie by pointing out a tall tale by the other side, you know, for fairness' sake. Or reporters excuse the lie as spin, and that's if they don't ignore it altogether. Entire networks exist to promote certain ideologies. Our highest-paid newspeople are entertainers whose only use for facts is to try and pimp them to disprove other facts. As if that were possible. The War on Truth is going very well, thank you.
If there was a compulsory nationwide drinking game, whose rules are: "Do a shot every time you hear a logical fallacy on the air," every American would die before tomorrow morning.
And yet, and yet. Like I said earlier, the future is bright. Brighter than ever.
One reason is that new ideas are quick to gain traction, quick to be embraced, quick to be exposed. The Internet is wonderful for the spread of information, bad AND good. If something is really worthwhile, it can go viral, just like the things that are less good, and yes, I'm looking right at you, Psy. Well, not right at you, because eww.
Another reason for optimism is that personal liberty is making a comeback. After the stinky, anti-constitutional overreach that was the "Patriot" Act, civil liberties are once again at a premium across the nation and across the aisle. The push to legalize gay marriage, marijuana, and yes, the pushback against gun control all reflect a shared value: civil liberties are important. We may disagree on what shape they take, but at least now we're talking about how to expand them, or protect them, or stay carefully within the rules of the Constitution as we explore the limits of regulation. I'm not sure that's the same conversation we were having a decade ago.
But the main reason for optimism in American politics is that a realignment of the parties is on the way. And not too far off -- years, not decades.
This realignment is not on its way just because I said so. It's coming because the current situation cannot hold:
D President offers policy embraced by R's for years (health care reform via individual mandate)
R Congress votes against it
D President offers policy based on fact (climate change is real, let's boost green energy and cut emissions)
R Congress votes against it
D President offers ideas designed to rescue country from financial ruin (everything proposed in 2009)
R Congress votes against it
D President nominates R politician to head the Defense Department
R Congress votes against him!
D President offers idea based on common sense (ban weapons that make killing sprees easier, protect all other gun rights, close gun show loophole)R Congress votes against it, inevitably. If you think the House R's will vote for whatever clears the Senate with the President's blessing, then... I can't help you.
The point here is: after years of unflinching opposition to every single proposal made by this President, the Republican Party runs out of things it supports. At some point, all it stands for is what it stands against. Which, pretty soon, is everything. Including its own principles.
I don't see a political party surviving for very long in America if the only victories it can offer its constituents are negative victories, even as it moves away from the center of the nation's political pulse. Give that party another x years of blocking everything in sight, claiming only negative victories (like, say, through 2017, then under a President Clinton), and the fractures already evident will widen. To the point of fracture.
The sooner we get to an official schism in the GOP, the better. For everyone, even conservatives.
Well, for everyone, except the far right. And maybe the far left. But I'm OK with extremists paying the price for a national return to sane politics.
Part Two of this post will be published tomorrow! A preview: Parties change. The Democrats have claimed the center, but after the upcoming Grand Old Parting, the Republicans will survive, and thrive again. Some of their ideas are really good! And out of the ashes of the GOP, a better, four- or five-party system will rise. Not a moment too soon, either.
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