Politics in the Time of Media

Odd thoughts began to churn around in my mind today while watching Jon Stewart on Oprah (great show. I hope you didn't miss it!)

It occurred to me how much our political opinions are shaped and orchestrated by media. I mean, we all knew that, of course, but remember when we were all worried about our military in Iraq and Afghanistan. When was the last time you even thought about fighting in those countries? When was the last time you heard a report about fighting in those countries?

Remember that mosque in New York. Surely you do -- it was in all the papers. Notice how the ire that had been whipped up to a frenzy has just suddenly disappeared? It was the main story in the news every single day for weeks. Suddenly you dont see it at all. The media appears to be bored with it all and has stopped reporting on it and suddenly -- where is the ire? Where is the indignation? Where is the terrorist threat? It all seems to have returned to the situation one year ago when it all began, before the media, or some media-savvy politician decided to make it a cause celebre.

And remember when illegal aliens pouring over the border from Mexico was the biggest threat to our national security? Remember when we had people rushing off to the border with their rifles, and when the police were going to start arresting people for the crime of looking Mexican? Seen anything about that lately?

Whatever would we do without the media telling us what to get our knickers in a twist about?

Something else very disturbing is happening with this election cycle. There has been an insidious change in electioneering. I've only just begun to put the totality of it all together and see the trend. Maybe I've just discovered something that you guys knew all along.

Have you noticed that nobody seems to be campaigning any more?

Candidates are refusing to debate and instead are relying on their media stream and Twitter posts to win them the election. But the odd thing about all this new crop of candidates who are trying to win the opportunity to go into Congress and make decisions that will affect the rest of us for years to come is that their ads don't say anything.

A nasty picture of their opponent comes on the screen and there is a list of three or four things that the candidate thinks s/he has done that are really horrible. And then some stentorian voice says something like "isn't it time for a change? Vote for John P. Good Guy for Congress."

And that's it. We don't know anything about John P. Good Guy except that he's obviously better than Ebinezer Nasty Man. But we never get a chance to see Ebinezer challenge John about his accusations or about his platform because John is oh gosh darn just too busy campaigning to bother about a little thing like a debate about the issues, or even to answer reporter's questions about off the wall things s/he may have said or accusations s/he may have made. Or heavens to Betsy let you know what his/her plan when s/he gets to Washington actually is.

This is how we have come up with candidates like Christine O'Donnell, who today said that the consitution says right there plainly that the government shall not award any titles of nobility to any citizen, so Obama is clearly in opposition to the constituion if he appoints a Czar of anything.

These are the people who want us to let them run the country.

God help us. And God bless America.