April 2008 Archives

11 April 2008

Do we get the political rhetoric we deserve?

Democrats and heretics (Kimberley Strassel, WSJ)

These days, corporate bashing, closed borders and class warfare have become staples of the left. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have pushed these positions to new heights, in the process setting litmus tests for what counts as being a good Democrat.

Pharma companies? Rich and greedy. Fossil fuel companies? Dirty polluters. Multinationals who "offshore" jobs? Traitors. Americans who strike financial success? Fat cats. Developing countries working to open their borders? Job stealers. It rarely is noted that this vilification is encouraged by yet another set of lobbyists, those representing unions and environmental groups.

This is simply the ongoing slickification of American politics, and not really exclusive to the left.

As our political system continues to evolve from one of limited government to one that increasingly transfers wealth, regulates all sorts of activity, and dispenses favors, naturally more money flows to those newly political enterprises -- and in particular, to the professional political/media/PR consultants and strategists who craft and focus-group and refine these soundbites and talking points for public consumption/persuasion. We get those soundbites and talking points because they are sticky, and apparently effective at persuading majorities (or pluralities).

This doesn't mean that all the soundbites and/or talking points are necessarily untrue -- ideology can be true even though it is not primarily truth-seeking (like philosophy) -- even if the reduction of our politics to soundbite interest-group pluralism/pull-peddling does sometimes make it seem that way.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/11/08 21:48 | American Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)

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