[MD] French ingredient in the soup of sentiments

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

Joseph, SA, All...

[Joseph asked]
Questions for debate, do the masses have to be involved in politics? Is there
not enough, matters of more pressing concern to be thinking about?  Should the
political judgement of someone like Lila, who is socially poor, and
intellectualy no where have a say in matters of grand politics?

[Arlo]
Good question. In the "past", one of the justifications for "public education"
was to prepare the citizenry for its duties as part of the body politic. The
assumption was (broadly speaking) that a 12th year education was "enough" to
prepare a citizen for voting and fulfilling their civic duties. Whether or not
this succeeded, and why, is another question, but there can be no doubt that
the complexities of "modern life" have grown beyond what Dewey and others who
argued for public education could have envisioned. Understanding complex
historical dealings with factions and regions, not to mention complicated
economic questions and inter- (and intra- ) ethnic and religious tensions,
requires (I'd argue) more than what the typical high-school diploma provides.

The Nixon debate proved that most voters vote on image, not substance, they vote
on spin, style and appearance more than they vote on knowledge, wisdom or
leadership. Lincoln would never be elected today because he was a lanky,
strange looking man. While the media is easy to "blame" for this, the fault is
our own. The media merely gives us what we demand. When the Cultural Literacy
book came out, I remember the author being flabbergasted that more Americans
than not did not know basic, simple historical facts about their country. You
think that's changed?

So I'd say we have three options as I see it.

One, we take steps to ensure we have an "informed citizenry". More education.
Continuing education for adults, etc.

Two, we select only those among the citizenry who are "informed" for
participation in elections. Voter testing.

Three, we admit the system is one where the majority vote on appearance and
image and spin, and unabashedly merge politics with entertainment. Jesse the
Body for President, anyone?

Of course there is also...

Four, we admit that our votes mean absolutely anything, that the elections are
mostly shams for politicos from one of two parties to do pretty much nothing
but distract us anyway, so we say "fuck you" to the system, hop aboard our
motorcycles, and wait until Rome burns. (Sorry, some cynicism has apparently
crept in via the Poutine I made this evening...)

Arlo