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Why is it that our political dialogue seems dumbed down?

ARCHITEKT

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It seems like our political dialogue in America lacks any philosophical depth. We are all the details but not the core issues? Why is that? Instead of arguing and discussing that which is so divisive why cant we argue on the broad scale on issues that our universal.. We should establish the role of government and its current operation and from there we could begin peeling the layers. i dont know what do you think? truth about how we control one another - YouTube watch! good talk.
 
It seems like our political dialogue in America lacks any philosophical depth. We are all the details but not the core issues? Why is that? Instead of arguing and discussing that which is so divisive why cant we argue on the broad scale on issues that our universal.. We should establish the role of government and its current operation and from there we could begin peeling the layers. i dont know what do you think? truth about how we control one another - YouTube watch! good talk.

You mean in the world of 30 second ads, talking heads versus investigative reporting, debates where a candidate gets 2 minutes to answer. Add to that an electorate that simply makes party line votes or does not vote at all because they have lost faith in the system.

People get the government they deserve, we have ours.
 
An uninformed population that votes according to emotional outrage is much easier to control than one that knows how government, law, and economics really works.
 
An uninformed population that votes according to emotional outrage is much easier to control than one that knows how government, law, and economics really works.

You're close. It's a voluntarily uninformed population that votes according to one's selfish needs. These are simpletons who can't name one of their state's house representatives, but they can rattle off the past 4-5 American Idol winners. These are people who are more interested in Kim Kardashian than in politics. People whose universes end at fingertip's reach.

Hey, Satan incarnate is handing out free phones and welfare!! The drawback is that you'll be a slave to his whims, and he and his minions will control every part of your life.

....who cares! FREE PHONES AND FREE MONEY!!!! Where do I vote????
 
From my perspective, political discourse went down the tubes as soon as news and reporting became entertainment rather than information.
 
You're close. It's a voluntarily uninformed population that votes according to one's selfish needs. These are simpletons who can't name one of their state's house representatives, but they can rattle off the past 4-5 American Idol winners. These are people who are more interested in Kim Kardashian than in politics. People whose universes end at fingertip's reach.

Hey, Satan incarnate is handing out free phones and welfare!! The drawback is that you'll be a slave to his whims, and he and his minions will control every part of your life.

....who cares! FREE PHONES AND FREE MONEY!!!! Where do I vote????

You're assuming that people made an informed decision to become uninformed. Successive uninformed decisions led to more people being more uninformed. Of course, if you only think that only poor blacks are so uninformed, then you're doing no better than they are.
 
You're assuming that people made an informed decision to become uninformed. Successive uninformed decisions led to more people being more uninformed. Of course, if you only think that only poor blacks are so uninformed, then you're doing no better than they are.

He's a crass right-libertarian

He's not really capable of thinking beyond some weird fusion of classical liberalism and reactionary social views
 
You're assuming that people made an informed decision to become uninformed. Successive uninformed decisions led to more people being more uninformed. Of course, if you only think that only poor blacks are so uninformed, then you're doing no better than they are.

No. It's apathy. People don't care whether they're informed or not, as long as "they get theirs." Furthermore, who said anything about race? White people are just as apathetic. It's not about race, it's about culture. Right now we have too many people who live in this "gimme" culture. They want Mother Government to take from others, and give to them.

He's a crass right-libertarian

He's not really capable of thinking beyond some weird fusion of classical liberalism and reactionary social views
Ironic, coming from a crass socialist "group-think" mentality. The phrase "sock puppet" also comes to mind.
 
Ironic, coming from a crass socialist "group-think" mentality. The phrase "sock puppet" also comes to mind.



I guess I cannot think for myself because I strive for the liberation of oppressed people in the world

*eyerolls into the void*
 
It seems like our political dialogue in America lacks any philosophical depth. We are all the details but not the core issues? Why is that? Instead of arguing and discussing that which is so divisive why cant we argue on the broad scale on issues that our universal.. We should establish the role of government and its current operation and from there we could begin peeling the layers. i dont know what do you think? truth about how we control one another - YouTube watch! good talk.

You raise the question of us being 'dumbed down' while presenting a youtube video to watch. A bit ironic.

Well for one: there's no evidence to support the idea that people use to be more solid and informed within their political dialogue and have since reversed coarse. Our political system relies on demagoguery, it always has. Sensational media and biased views have won elections since the beginning.

When I raise the idea of being more elite by requiring a basic intelligence assessment before being able to vote - or when I discourage the uninformed from voting at all - I'm called an Un-American Bitch.

People's personal opinions matter too much.
 
You mean in the world of 30 second ads, talking heads versus investigative reporting, debates where a candidate gets 2 minutes to answer. Add to that an electorate that simply makes party line votes or does not vote at all because they have lost faith in the system.

People get the government they deserve, we have ours.

Brilliant
 
I guess I cannot think for myself because I strive for the liberation of oppressed people in the world

*eyerolls into the void*

How is welfare liberating? Reliance on government for one's well-being isn't "liberating."
 
It seems like our political dialogue in America lacks any philosophical depth. We are all the details but not the core issues? Why is that? Instead of arguing and discussing that which is so divisive why cant we argue on the broad scale on issues that our universal.. We should establish the role of government and its current operation and from there we could begin peeling the layers. i dont know what do you think? truth about how we control one another - YouTube watch! good talk.

How else can the progressives entice the uninformed.
 
How is welfare liberating? Reliance on government for one's well-being isn't "liberating."

Welfare is a bandaid on the gaping, gushing-blood wound that is poverty and income disparity

It's used to perpetuate the current system, not to end it

im not really pro-welfare

in an abstract sense its better than nothing

I'm not really so much pro-welfare so much as I am pro-not-having-poor-people-starve-freeze-etc to death
 
I think you are looking in the wrong place. Most people do not have the time or want to follow political developments -- and they should be free to do so in a democratic republic. Likewise the country does not need the input of every single citizen in order to run successfully. It's within Washington, state governments, advocacy groups, think tanks, political books/magazines or even internet discussion forums, that we actually need these sort of "high" public policy discussions because that's what translates into government. I'd argue that within those "groups", we have a pretty high quality standard of politicizing.
 
Welfare is a bandaid on the gaping, gushing-blood wound that is poverty and income disparity

It's used to perpetuate the current system, not to end it

im not really pro-welfare

in an abstract sense its better than nothing

I'm not really so much pro-welfare so much as I am pro-not-having-poor-people-starve-freeze-etc to death

I'm not exactly sure how to describe welfare in such terms. The problem I suppose is that it actually hurts people by increasing wealth disparity and lowering wages and so in the long run it causes an increased need for itself. I really don't know what it acts like, but it's not a band-aid to be sure.

It's really just an illusion that is actually making the wound worse while making everyone think it's actually helping.
 
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It seems like our political dialogue in America lacks any philosophical depth. We are all the details but not the core issues? Why is that? Instead of arguing and discussing that which is so divisive why cant we argue on the broad scale on issues that our universal.. We should establish the role of government and its current operation and from there we could begin peeling the layers. i dont know what do you think? truth about how we control one another - YouTube watch! good talk.
There is a huge challenge to getting both good discussion and good government in a world run by the drive-by media.

As long as the purpose of the media is to sell product, its presentation method will be for that end, by entertaining the masses at a superficial level, and not for any great ethical purpose.

As for starting with the role of government, though I can understand a libertarian wanting to open with that, I would say let's put that on the backburner for a bit, and instead talk about something philosophically deeper.

"How" is less important than "what", and we haven't decided in agreement on the "what".

In America, the foundational goal is, in my opinion, to create a dynamic balance between the yin-yang complementary components of freedom and security that create liberty and justice respectively.

Indeed, when someone's liberty is greatly exceeded, another's justice is likely being infringed, and vice versa.

Today, we have two political parties, the liberal Democrats and the conservative Republicans. The liberal Dems value freedom way over security in social issues and security way over freedom in economic-fiscal issues. The conservative Repubs value security way over freedom in social issues and freedom way over security in economic-fiscal issues.

And, of course, libertarians value freedom way over security in everything.

Thus we have a dysfunctional "bipolar" policy swing of an extreme quality happening in America all the time, often at the freedom or justice-expense of scores of millions of American citizens.

This will create an unstable living environment, prone to economic recession and social strife.

Since creating a dynamic balance between liberty and justice, to truly create "liberty and justice for all" as our citizen's pledge of allegiance states, is of the greatest foundational value to American citizens, we need to look at all the issues from a factual perspective and in the best interest of U.S. citizens, and from there we will most likely be able to develop a political philosophy that works best for America.

The challenge here is that the powers that be presently don't want that; they don't want what the great majority of America's citizens would like.

The powers that be simply want to keep power so that they can continue to effect their dysfunctional imbalanced policies.

They keep power by appealing to unresolved family of origin damage in a number of people who would be movers and shakers politically, irritating them to act out their unresolved issues in the public political arena instead of taking their unresolved issues to a competent mental health practitioner for resolution.

This is a surprisingly effective technique, as nearly everyone has unresolved emotional issuess stemming from childhood, some more than others, and because many have surpressed/repressed these issues, they are not resolved but just waiting to be re-triggered with a message from an activist.

Such acting out is always in an extreme imbalanced manner where the person doing the acting-out polarizes with a person from their past and attempts the corrective emotional experience.

The result is wingish policies.

'Tis sad.
 
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