The overdose of presidential approval ratings and polls has merited another rant from me. I'm sick and tired of bringing up my favorite news site to be confronted by the latest approval rating or poll on why Bush sucks. It's not because I think he's that great of a guy. I have respect for the President, but I do disagree with some of his decisions. Yet I digress (as usual). This is not about my opinion of the prez, it's about my opinion of poll headlline tactics.
Polls as headlines are, frankly, ridiculous. For one thing, all they mean is that some idiot got paid to call a bunch of people and ask them questions. How many people? I don't know. What group of people? I don't know. What, specifically, were the questions and did they force you to answer in a negative manner? I don't know. In essence, polls mean absolutely nothing!
More than this however, I am disappointed by the fact that polls should help the party which is not in power. Dems spend all their time pointing out why Republicans are worse than they are. That's not positive and it certainly does not make one think our country is in safe hands. Why would I want a bunch of un-constrctive naysayers in power rather than people with a few problems? I want to know what Dems can do that will be an improvement over Republicans. I want to hear an argument made instead of see a finger pointed.
Ah, but politics has been wrenched from the great minds of Aristotle and Plato and placed into the small, unimaginative brains of people, like our Congress, whose only desire is a fleeting sense of power.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
The problem is that politicians are so darn political. They think more about plitics than they do about government. They think about how to keep their jobs, not how to make a difference with their jobs.
At the beginning of my blogging career, you might remember that my posts were much shorter, which was done to get as many readers as possible (Non-Internet people advised me to do so as they would not read long, wordy posts) But my posts weren't getting the depths of my opinions across. I'm now writing exactly what I want to write, and if people come, so be it.
The point is, if we hinder the true expression of our ideas, the Marketplace of Ideas is no longer in effect. As politics grows more and more a function of fundraising and campaigning, the Marketplace of Ideas becomes a thing of the past.
Ah, but what is politics? Why has it been demeaned to the point that you can use the phrase the way you do? What you mean to say is that politicians are lying, backstabbing, leaking, position jockeying, cheating bastards (pardon the language, and for the record I do not allow certain words on my blog either, I'm okay with milder swear words, so long as they are not directed AT someone else whose comment shows up here). I hardly think of that as politics. I think of it as what it is, lying, cheating, stealing, posturing and being otherwise despicable. The word politics was taken and turned into something outside of its actual meaning. It will always sadden and discourage me. Aristotle spoke of something that was both lofty and necessary when he spoke of politics. Even John Locke meant something greater rather than something lesser.
Yeah, this is a rant, I could go on forever. This is why I like political philosophy better than the practice of politics.
This comment has departed from the subject. So, to get back on subject. You're right. Politics is not about governing anymore, it's about petty power mongering. It's sad.
Notice that I almost never mention the GWB word on my blog, because it gets too political (in the modern sense of the word!) My liberal readers would start attacking angrily out of hate for their President and my conservative leaders (assuming their not already exhausted from 4 years of doing so) would simply become defensive. The only way to keep politics non-political is to keep out the politicians! I almost never bring actual politicians into my posts for this reason.
I spread the misery evenly.
A pox on both of their houses.
Hey, Esther...email me from my main website, I want to give you some news about my book.
-t
Post a Comment