Radical Socialism Versus Law and Order: What's in a Name?

What39s in a name Juliet had her answer gazing at Romeo from her window Dismissing her Capulet family39s feud with his Montagues she saw no reason why Romeo couldn39t follow suit foreswearing his title pledging his love and together abandoning their clans39 fateful rivalry From Shakespeare39s tragic romance or not the question couldn39t be more relevant as Americans confront the simpleminded shorthand that defines what39s at stake in November39s presidential electionTo be sure just like the 16th Century Bard and his acclaim a 21st Century candidate who wants voters39 support needs a good script Unlike Shakespeare39s soliloquies and their audiences 400 years ago however these days putting across his or her ideas isn39t easy Sound bites pass for speeches and for good reason Candidates face voters who can click or tap them away on big screens or smart phones before they take a second breath It doesn39t require a neuropsychology PhD to understand the politicians39 jeopardy they must play to technologywithered attention spans intolerant of complex thoughts including their longwinded explainersIt39s a major reason why political campaigns give the country39s problems and their competing solutions such short shrift Pick any topic from climate change to income inequality or racial injustice the national challenges that candidates should address as they vie for votes are as obvious as their details are ignored A few have triedamp8212Elizabeth Warren quothad a plan for itquotamp8212but they39re the minority Indeed President Trump could care less about the issues In July fielding a softball Fox News question he couldn39t come up with a single quotto doquot item for his second term Small wonder the Republicans didn39t bother producing a party platform this yearLet39s stipulate that political campaign cognoscenti would scoff at the idea of candidates trying to talk substance on the stump Their argument it39s a policy wonk39s shtick Delving into the issues is quicksand miring candidates in reporters39 questions inevitable misstatements and the opposition39s counterattacks And they39re right Most voters don39t care about the details Whether it39s Beijing building sandbars with runways for strike fighters in the South China Sea or Trump39s environmental protectors okaying mercury in your tap water the consultants counsel sticking to simple talking points If you want to win slogans are far safer than serious debateThe problem is that elections do more than produce winners They foreshadow the country39s course albeit without helping voters understand what candidates actually will do if they win or where they will need to compromise to make government work Whether it39s TV ads that label liberals as radical socialists for their Green New Deal or sponsored social media pillorying businessfriendly conservatives as on the corporate take the namecalling buries serious competing ideas not to mention reasoned discussion Cynics may chuckle at the notion that it should be otherwise but for a badly divided country the omission comes at a growing costConcern about a government driven by popular passions rather than rational debate and decision isn39t new James Madison a Founding Father saw it clearly 230 years ago in the Federalist Papers Number 10 quotA zeal for different opinions hasamp8230divided mankind into parties inflamed them with mutual animosity and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to cooperate for their common goodquot In selling the thenjust drafted Constitution he cited its separation of powers as a check on demagogues who had fueled passions undoing earlier democracies Odds are Madison never considered a president who would make incitement his job oneMadison also couldn39t foresee that a technologyenabled media would become a threat to the new nation39s democracy As Jeffrey Rosen pointed out in his excellent essay two years ago in The Atlantic on Madison39s political thinking and fears he was no stranger to the partisan knife fights in the press of his day But Madison also believed that journalism would offer serious discussion of the issues As Rosen wrote Madison quothad faith that citizens would take time to read complicated arguments allowing reason to spreadquot Boy did he ever get that wrongFar more than the media are producing the pauperization of America39s democratic dialogue but broadcast and cable news are doing their part From their program teasers to news segments the constant imagery and soundbites of namecalling and overthetop accusations including those certain to be extracted from this week39s presidential debate represent a 21st Century version of Madison39s worst fears Add the failure to allocate prime time to debunking what the campaign epithets claim The warning from Madison and his coauthor Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Papers Number 55 applies quotPassion never fails to wrest the scepter from reasonquotIn Amusing Ourselves to Death his critique of television 35 years ago the late Neil Postman wrote that TV is our culture39s principal mode of knowing about itself quotIt is in the nature of the mediumquot he explained quotthat it must suppress the content of ideas in order to accommodate the requirements of visual interest that is to say to accommodate the values of show businessquot Thanks to TV39s role Postman asserted quotthe content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsensequotIf Madison was here and tuned in the news today he would have nodded his assentPhoto credit ShutterstockClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Radical Socialism Versus Law and Order: What's in a Name?

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Kent M. Harrington

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