thegreekdog wrote:
I wouldn't limit your criticism to liberals (although you haven't). It has become clear, at least since Bush I, that politics involve increasingly more rhetoric and gaffes and "electability" than problem-solving or constructive criticism. I'm not sure who to blame(inb4 "I blame Democrats" or "I blame Republicans"), but it's clearly a problem when the concentration becomes "where is the president's birth certificate / where are Romney's tax returns" and "Obama is socialist / Romney is a rich fatcat" and the concentration is not on "why are we here in the first place and what can we do to fix it."
This problem annoys me, and I can't think of any solutions.
What jumps to mind is limiting voting rights, but that goes against the democratic ethos of our time.
How will the incentive arise which induces people to become more informed voters?
How will the incentive arise which induces people to see past the rhetoric, thus changing the demand for political advertising (including words from politicians) within voter markets?
Maybe everyone should directly pay something for any public policy. Having a huge segment of the population which can vote on issues yet pay no direct costs is insane. Underlying every democracy is this threat of majority rule and voter behavior induced by perverse incentives. The other problem is dispersed costs and concentrated benefits through the means of rent-seeking (e.g. elderly voting against cuts to Social Security, environmental groups imposing foolhardy regulations--as oppose to smarter regulations, insurance companies holding closed-door discussions with Obama on the new healthcare plan, etc.).
We live in a rent-seeking, democratic society, most of whose voters are well-intended yet rationally ignorant.