by Brian Weberg
Every now and then I read something that I want to share with my children. Thomas Friedman's recent op-ed expressing his concerns about the current nature of the American political scene is one such item. It doesn't matter which side of the political fence you stand on--or if you work hard to straddle that fence trying to understand and appreciate every point of view--Mr. Friedman's observations summarize trends in American politics that we should all ponder and take into account. For me, he has tapped into something I have felt in my bones, and helped put those feelings into more constructive context. Here is an excerpt:
The American political system was, as the saying goes, “designed by geniuses so it could be run by idiots.” But a cocktail of political and technological trends have converged in the last decade that are making it possible for the idiots of all political stripes to overwhelm and paralyze the genius of our system.
Those factors are: the wild excess of money in politics; the gerrymandering of political districts, making them permanently Republican or Democratic and erasing the political middle; a 24/7 cable news cycle that makes all politics a daily battle of tactics that overwhelm strategic thinking; and a blogosphere that at its best enriches our debates, adding new checks on the establishment, and at its worst coarsens our debates to a whole new level, giving a new power to anonymous slanderers to send lies around the world. Finally, on top of it all, we now have a permanent presidential campaign that encourages all partisanship, all the time among our leading politicians.
I would argue that together these changes add up to a difference of degree that is a difference in kind — a different kind of American political scene that makes me wonder whether we can seriously discuss serious issues any longer and make decisions on the basis of the national interest.
Friedman causes me to think about the role of states and state legislatures in addressing the "factors" he finds troublesome. For example, if gerrymandering is a culprit in "what is happening to American politics," then clearly the states are front and center in resolving that issue. But of course, it's not at all a simple matter. The national political parties and their complicit media outlets have extended their reach aggressively into what were once largely state and local political prerogatives and choices. Local voices and the civility of the town hall meeting are overwhelmed and perverted by national media cattle calls to action and obstruction by people and interests on both sides of the political fence who have no real connection to the needs and realities on main street.
If the states are the laboratories of democracy in America, then maybe their leaders and institutions need to stand stronger against the trends identified by Friedman. The states are, and always have been, the source of new and innovative policy solutions for America. Perhaps they also must be bulwarks against a creeping over-simplification of complex issues, the over-manipulation of voting district boundaries, the corrosive costs of continuous political campaigning and a coarsening political discourse that collectively act to discourage acts of thoughtful citizenship and paralyze our ability to solve critical social problems.



