Why does each election season get worse instead of better?

[Armstead]

I'm serious. Every election cycle seems top plummet further into the depths of trivia, stupidity, media manipulation, foregone conclusions made by mysterious spinsters, side issues, deflections, personal quirks, phony distractions and total avoidence of any substantative discussions of the real issues facing us.

Politics is replaced by Bread and Circuses. Politics as Sport. Politics as fashion show.

Take the debates, for example. There have always been criticisms in years past that they are shallow, subject to canned responses and more style than substance. However, instead of actually setting up real debates, they have declined in quality, to the point where they are now WWF matches. The debates are not determined by the candidates, but by the "personalities" who host them, and by gimmicks such as You-Tube questions.

Not too long ago, questions were asked by panels of semi-anonymous reporters. Moderated by people like Jim Lehrer, who did not draw attention to themselves....Now we have "personalities" like Tweety and Tim Russert using them to show off and play gotcha, rather than being impartial questioners and referees....And the after-debate spin is all about who had the snappiest answer and who "won" and who "lost."

Jeebus.Compared to this year, the elections of recent years were like Socratic dialogues.

How, as a country, can we allow this to happen? Why are we letting our collective stupidity continue to become dominant over our collective wisdom?

[Atman]

1. And since BushCo's new machines, EVERY race is tie up until the last hour

Can you say "ratings?" Fucking corporate media is a wholly owned subsidiary of BushCo.

.

[BeyondGeography]

2. I'm thinking it's because we suck

America was born late, grew up fast, got rich too quick and became fat and mean.

[Red Zelda]

3. Great posts!

Dumbfuckistan can't figure it out, either.
Consider M$M "coverage" to date. Nothing on issues, just the "race," where even as no one has yet voted, the media have a constant stream of "numbers," "percentages" and "margins of error." It's preposterous. It's not a year-plus of campaigning, it's a veritable year-plus of election night.

We get the horseshit we deserve. And all we get is horseshit.

[Armstead]

4. But do we really deserve it?

I guess my optimistic side believes that the majority of American people want better than this. They want politics to be more significant, and they're tired of the horse-race shit.

[Red Zelda]

5. I agree that most want better

but there's a very stark limit to how far they'll go to get it. The media continue to lead people around by the nose. The fact that elections themselves have become bogus and no one's marching in the streets is final proof.

[redqueen]

7. We could always just stop buying into it.

Stop watching the stupid teevee news... stop buying magazines and newspapers due to all the BS in them... just stop fucking supporting any of it.

Instead... it's "this food sucks, and there's not enough of it".

*sigh*

[Armstead]

12. It's not whether "we" buy into it unfortunately

The problem is that they sort of have the public by the gonads. People who want news have to settle for what they can get...And if they're not news junkies, the path of least resistance is the MSM.

[Arugula Latte]

6. That was the best summation of this country's history I've ever read.

Short and to the point.

:hi:

[BeyondGeography]

9. Thanks, kindred spirit

:hi:

[harun]

8. I wish I could moderate your post up :-)

[Amonester]

10. It's too long.

After a month or two of such worthless sh*t, most people get bored to death and zap away...
!

[cuke]

11. Because the avg IQ is 100, and that's not too bright

and 1/2 the population falls under 100