If you venture into social media, you’ll find that it has become a mosh pit of vicious partisan politics.
The posts and comments from the two tribes of mutually antagonistic true believers display vituperative incivility and smug self-certainty that can only dismay and disgust those Americans not intellectually impaired by unquestioning ideological devotion — and by bad manners.
There are few good dancers in the mosh pit — that is, those who can make cogent, fact-based arguments — mostly there are a lot of folks just frenetically pushing, shoving and stomping about.
It is a place where truth gets knocked down and trampled every day, where wacky conspiracy theories thrive, belief substitutes for knowledge, and fervent followers revel in mauling the other side with unsubstantiated accusations, spurious “facts” and alternate realities.
All the mosh pit dancers claim they are patriots, concerned with preserving and promoting the fundamental principles of liberty, justice and equal opportunity upon which the nation was founded.
And of course, they always condemn the opposing tribe as the great threat to those principles.
These delusional dervishes who, with white-knuckled tenacity, hold on to one of two idealistic ideological visions for the country, are convinced that once their vision is instituted America will be saved from the evil of the other tribe and restored to its hallowed, founding principles and left free to pursue its great promise.
In the entire universe of human thought and possibility, these people can find only two choices, namely liberal or conservative — their definitions of which meander capriciously over the political landscape but are, nonetheless, ardently defended, issue by issue, as unassailably righteous and unerringly correct.
It is said that America hasn’t been this divided against itself since the Civil War. I often ponder why and over what.
Surely, this deep partisan discordance not only serves the malign interests of America’s external enemies, particularly Russia, but it also advances and maintains the advantage of internal interests, particularly America’s economic aristocracy and a political class intent on attaining and maintaining power. This explains some of the why.
Over what? Well, whenever I engage partisans of either persuasion on any issue, I typically find that their shallow reserves of reason are quickly depleted and replaced with vitriol. Any facts or logic that contradicts their belief systems are rejected or ignored, and I am disparagingly dismissed as just another misguided partisan from the opposing tribe.
Consequently, I have tended to refrain from such futile engagements. These people are irredeemable.
But, they sure make the most noise and command the most attention. They are not, however, the majority of Americans. The majority of Americans are reasonable, moderate — and mostly quiet.
That doesn’t mean that they are unobservant or unconcerned by what is happening in and to the country. There are enough of them to wrest the wheel of government from the partisan zealots and from the forces of greed and venality that benefit from the ongoing ideological idiocy rending the country.
This rational majority needs to take action. Yes, of course, they need to be inveterate voters, but as important, they must be knowledgeable voters.
They won’t find much objective reporting, verified facts or rational debate in the mosh pits of social media, or in those national broadcast media dedicated to spewing partisan poison and delaminating the nation.
To be accurately informed requires a little bit of effort and determination. There are well edited, impartial sources of news and information available to us. National Public Radio, The Week magazine, along with some of the local news media are among my favorite sources.
The pen is indeed mightier than the sword in thwarting government corruption and preventing tyranny. The First Amendment’s freedom of speech is a far more effective deterrent to tyranny than is the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.
One of the greatest threats to our republic and to our civil rights is the demise of local newspapers. Over recent years, hundreds of communities across the nation have lost their local newspaper as the advertising revenues that funded newspaper operations migrated to the Internet.
Without local news media keeping watch and reporting what they find, local government can and does abuse power, misuse taxpayer money and snooze on the job. Government corruption is not confined to the federal level.
Unless you attend every council meeting, how would you know that a majority of the Santa Barbara City Council had betrayed city residents and taxpayers in order to benefit labor unions that had financed the election campaigns of those very council members?
Unless you conducted a comprehensive investigation on your own, how would you learn that incompetent, deceitful Santa Barbara County public works officials may well have jeopardized the safety of local residents from disastrous debris flow danger?
Practically all Americans, even those on either side of the ideological divide, share common concerns. They don’t want underperforming, corrupt or incompetent elected officials.
They all want impartial justice, equal opportunity and enough regulation to protect the public from the abuses of the forces of greed. They want the general welfare promoted and maintained with quality public education, safe infrastructure and a reasonably robust social safety net that aids the wounded rather than bayonets them as stragglers.
It is really time for the rational majority to show the wack-nuts in the mosh pit who controls the dance floor.
— Randy Alcorn is a Santa Barbara political observer. Contact him at randyaalcorn@gmail.com, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.