So on occasion, I just need a written braindump so my eldest doesn't just see me yelling at the guy with the good hair and ironed flannel shirts on TV. I'm not sure there's a middle in politics any more. Don't get me wrong, there are moderates, but I think most of the moderates have been pushed out of the conversation altogether. And it's not that either of the major party's candidate's don't have moderate tendencies. Governor Romney was governor of one of the most liberal states in the nation and until his recent chameleon like spin, would likely be considered to be at "worst" a Scoop Jackson/Bluedog Democrat and at his most conservative, one of those extinct Rockerfeller/Elliot Richardson Republicans. President Obama, managed to push through a health care plan that in 1994 was the conservative answer to HilaryCare which has somehow been relabeled as socialism.
But the moderate has become a person who does not want to be part of the crazy discourse that is going on. The yelling, the screaming, the sudden birth of the half baked Constitutional scholar, the death panels, the channeling of Ayn Rand, the general silliness. The reaction from those who lean left, sitting there stunned, disappointed by what they thought was a liberal President and just shocked at how the President has created a new generation of drone warfare, pushed a health care plan without a public option and watched as the nation has ground to a complete halt politically. The sound from the extremes has reached a crescendo. Certainly and I think even those on the conservative side would agree that outside of the wackiness of the urban camping of Occupy Wall St., etc, most of that noise has come from the right, the corollary to BushDerangementSyndrome, Obamahate.
Most just don't want to get into the soundbite struggle, the armchair and keyboard riots. So to be civil, many have just excused themselves from the conversation altogether. I wonder sometimes how these folks can stand it, all the noise, how they will feel when they go to the polls, this huge majority of "independents"/non-aligned people and how unfortunate that this disorganized militia of regular folks can't really have a voice in the conversation. They are constantly under assault by media, both paid advertisement and the rest of the noise that goes on.
The right plays this game much better than the left, much of the information is easily digestable with easy to remember arguments, statistics and repartee. The argumentative left usually has very shrill exclamations of fairness and social justice. The conversation generally leaves rationalists of all political backgrounds shut out of any potential positive conversation and discovering consensus and middle ground. So what is the position of the rationalist? And again there are rationalists of many political background.
Where is the vital special interest group whose special interest is in fact a better America? And is civility shutting up, going to the ballot box and voting your conscience. Or is in fact cowardice, not standing up to the big money PAC's and noise and just acting like you're powerless? I feel the pull to not engage, certainly among friends the conversations can be heated and in fact entertaining. But to other, from the craziness of black helicopters, birthers and 9/11 conspiracies to the less extreme but still constant cacophony of FoxNews soundbites, socialist/Muslim/death panel babble, the effort just seems to be worthless.
What is the role of civility in a country that seems to have gone bonkers?
