So, in full disclosure, my New Year’s resolution was to write one thing per day either for here, or RedState, or both. For the most part, I’ve met that goal.
Last week, between closing out the school year as a teacher and just general burnout, I skipped out on Thursday, Friday, and yesterday. Thankfully, it was Memorial Day weekend so it was a more understandable time to take off.
One of the things that’s been such a drag in focusing on and writing about politics is that everyone said things would get less nasty and more pleasant now that Donald Trump was out of office. The mean, vile tweets, attacks on political opponents, and the general demeanor of our political landscape would get better.
Clearly, that was a lie.
The Democrats are demagoguing even harder, the Republicans are caught between doubling down on Trump and trying to move on, and the media thinks the Democrats are now in a winning position, continuing their relentless attacks on anything with an “R” behind its name. All the while, the pandemic is certainly much better but not gone, the economy sucks, and the divisions between people of different races and creeds are deeper than ever. It is enough to make you think that nothing has actually changed at all.
Politicians and media figures are so entrenched in the political bubbles of social media that they are responding to every little thing that trends while the average American has a passing knowledge at best of those issues. The news coverage and the public statements of politicians seem more and more to address what is said on social media and they rarely seem to apply to our lives.
As a result, while these very powerful or very loud voices continue to fight political battles on public health and economic issues when they should be fighting public health and economic battles, the general public tunes them out. That is where we are as a society, and it continues to be unhealthy for our public discourse. I am not sure what the solution is, but I remain positive we might one day move beyond it.
Hopefully.