Politics and Cultural Evolution

Don't let the title deceive you. This is not going to be all that interesting.

I have rarely (or maybe never) examined the political arena for leadership examples as  I truly believe there are not many worth discussing. Certainly  I do not intend to dismiss the depth of research and writing provided by scholars on past US Presidents shining bright scholastic lights on such men as Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Andrews, Lincoln, etc. They have the benefit of history in their favor, but to the point. With election day here, and the debates completed, my ballot delivered to the Oregon Secretary of State I ponder just what is going on in the political arena as I do every November (and May in our state.)

At the local level, I see the same names for city council, and an occasional fresh one for county commissioner, unknowns for water district and the like, people running for state level offices whose statements in the voters guide really do not help me choose. Are you beginning to see the problem? I am sure, like many voters, I wait too late to learn about the candidates, but honestly I do not want to because I know I will be disappointed in the quality of the candidate. The process itself (which is what is really interesting to me) has become so carnivorous to force the exclusion of qualified participants. So to another point, for the first time I feel neither the challenger of the incumbent for the highest office in the land deserve my vote. The choice comes down, as my mother would have said, to picking a lesser of evils. In the larger world, this is bound to happen in any elected office, but for the most powerful office in the world? Come on! I am stunned that these men are the best the two party system can offer up. The debates really illuminated this frustration.

Fortunately I only have two readers and they have come to expect these kinds of positions from me, and like many bloviators out there I do not paint the details because I expect (if I had them) the reader to do some thinking for themselves.

Now for the cultural evolution part (and carnivorous forces). It seems we love to prey on each other or at least feel like there are others more mizerable, stupid, lazy, un-motivated, drive diminished, or whatever than ourselves otherwise television programs would not have they content currently use. What has that got to do with politics--ever watch a negative ad? Look deeper into the message and you will find little truth. I remember being told once every legend, myth, even lies, have a kernal of truth at their center. No data to support it, but that is not what I believe to be the case in negative political ads. Truth is people tend to listen to whomever and whatever match up to what they already believe. The carnivorous forces, media, super pacs, pundits, bloviators, and etc pander to this behavior. Its frustrating to know that each election cycle seems to bring out the worst in our culture. Yet things are not all that different from a couple of centuries ago. The presidential race between Jefferson and Adams was probably one of the most vitrolic in history.

So I will sit up tonight and watch the election. It will be so close I may not know who will be president for a couple of days and when it concludes I will ask "now what?" No matter how it turns out half the country will have voted for the other guy.