The Cult of Men
By Adam Graham (09/10/07)
Our government, we're been told, is one of laws, not of men. Yet, our politics have fast become a politics devoid of ideas and focusing instead on personalities. Patrick Ruffini, writing on Hugh Hewitt's blog, recently declared, "policy is boring and politics is interesting."
A journalist told me something similar a while back. And heretofore the campaign coverage has aligned with that fact. The truth is, we’ve had a campaign of irrelevancy with red herring being the fish of the day. We’ve talked about John Edwards’ haircut, Hillary Clinton’s cleavage, what some Huckabee supporter said about Catholicism, and the smack down of Ron Paul from one of the other candidates that occurs in every debate.
Of course, the next President will have serious issues to face whoever he/she is. Indeed, the decisions that are made over the next 4-8 years could be crucial to our security, the strength of our economy, and our nation’s cultural fabric.
However, you wouldn’t know that with the coverage we’ve seen as well as the debates that have occurred online. Half the time, it sounds like we’re merely spectators in a horse race. Whose ahead or behind a few million dollars in the money race? Which horse can win and which can’t?
Other times, it seems as if we’re talking about rock stars. Think about it for a moment Since when have you seen so many Presidential Candidates known by a single name: Hillary, Rudy, Fred, and Obama? Maybe Madonna and Beyonce should join these one name presidential superstars.
Sadly, at most times, it appears this race is being run as an election for President—High School class president, that is. The world rarely changes because of a Class President and campaigns that focus on personalities and in the case of some immature high schoolers, name calling. Thus, the case with the Presidential campaigns today. Supporters of other candidates don’t say Ron Paul’s wrong because he’s misunderstood the issue, mis-stated the case, but rather because he’s a nut. In explaining why he wouldn’t vote for Sam Brownback, a national talk show host complained that Brownback looked too much like Greg Brady.
Just like in High School, the frontrunners make grandiose promises. Barack Obama will bring us “hope” through an agenda that can be described as vapid at best. Hillary Clinton says she wants to bring America together. Who does she think she’s kidding? Her husband’s tenure was incredibly divisive, and if anything she’s more polarizing. Rudy Giuliani is going to save us from terrorist attacks, and will be far better equipped to deal with the war on terror despite the fact his policies really differ little from most of his opponents.
And of course, there is appeals to the basic instincts of man such as fear. The propositions that Rudy Giuliani will do a good job of keeping America safe from terrorists slanders every other candidate (the only exception would appear to be Ron Paul) who understands the nature of the struggle against Islamic extremism as untrustworthy incompetents. In reality, no President can guarantee us 100% safety.
These same folks will have us believe that no matter what rights we give away, no matter how bad our moral, social, and fiscal situation gets under Rudy Giuliani, we’ll be okay as long as we’re not blown off the face of the Earth.
So thus we go from high ideals like liberty, opportunity, and limited government to the idea that, like a deer or a grizzly bear, our sole goal in life is to stay one step ahead of our predator. Of course, we must survive, but merely surviving as we sell out our nation’s principles is a slow death of another sort.
However, these are arguments few want to hear in an age where principles are eclipsed by personalities. When personalities become the center of our political debate, that political debate will become increasingly charged, irrational, and hopelessly adrift. Because when you’re in a debate over personalities, the only available tools are personal attacks which make our politics more bitter and less reasonable.
At the end of the day, our Republic can’t survive if it becomes a cult of personality. However, in our foolish and forgetful age, we think that the Republic always was and always will be. Like a cocky teenager, we ride off recklessly down a dangerous road thinking we’ll live forever and ignore the fearful sight of the dead bodies strewn along the road from those who chose to repeat history’s mistakes rather than learning from them.
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