Shame and hypocrisy are both obsolete in American politics. Voters mostly assume that no one is honest and that everyone does terrible things. Neither is actually true, but truth is another thing that voters no longer demand or expect.
The saddest part is that those changes in attitude are why shame, hypocrisy, and truth are no longer considered important in elections. We have a president who now lies nearly every time he opens his mouth, is often called on it, but whose voters simply do not care.
Bad faith arguments about false equivalency have had a huge role in undermining our democracy. Yes, there are a lot of terrible people in politics. No, it is not universal. And the choosing the lesser of two evils is still important.
We need to get back to recognizing that while no one is perfect, some flaws are much greater than others.
We also need to push for genuinely good candidates in primaries. They exist, but they are frequently pushed off-stage early in the process by the mainstream party hacks.
Shame and hypocrisy are both obsolete in American politics. Voters mostly assume that no one is honest and that everyone does terrible things. Neither is actually true, but truth is another thing that voters no longer demand or expect.
The saddest part is that those changes in attitude are why shame, hypocrisy, and truth are no longer considered important in elections. We have a president who now lies nearly every time he opens his mouth, is often called on it, but whose voters simply do not care.
Bad faith arguments about false equivalency have had a huge role in undermining our democracy. Yes, there are a lot of terrible people in politics. No, it is not universal. And the choosing the lesser of two evils is still important.
We need to get back to recognizing that while no one is perfect, some flaws are much greater than others.
We also need to push for genuinely good candidates in primaries. They exist, but they are frequently pushed off-stage early in the process by the mainstream party hacks.