“PATRIOCRACY”— Our Political Divide

Amos ♦ June 27, 2012 ♦ Leave Your Comment

“PATRIOCRACY”

Our Political Divide

Amos Lassen

It seems that our nation has never been more divided and we certainly see that in Brian Moore’s new documentary. “Patriocracy”. Here is an unbiased look at partisanship and the film questions how it got to be this bad. We are taken back to where polarization began and look at both the Democratic and the Republican parties and their tactics, at the way Congress is divided and the role of the media in increasing the division between them.

The film documents how political pragmatism has decayed and we hear opinions from CBS Correspondent Bob Schieffer, former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, Newsweek political reporter/Contributing Editor and McLaughlin Group TV pundit Eleanor Clift, news commentator Pat Buchanan, the “Gang of 6” Senators Kent Conrad, Mark Warner and Mike Crapo.

The timing could not be more perfect to see this film. The differences between the parties has been escalating daily as we near the 2012 Presidential election and the country is either totally frustrated or just does not give a damn. This is the most toxic we have seen the political environment and today’s climate is undermined by sarcasm.

The partisanship that we see today appears to have begun in 1964 with the candidacy of Barry Goldwater which opened arguments between the right and the left. Then the Newt in 1979 ended to the rift by not compromising on anything (including his personal life). Of course, the age of the Internet made everything instantly available and everyone with an opinion blogged it. Add to this the Supreme Court decision to allow corporations to pay for elections, we see voters being manipulated by fear. Votes are now ranked on the Internet before a vote takes place in Congress and there is pressure from everywhere.

With the main issues in America now being the “national debt, healthcare reform, illegal immigration, the war on terror, Americans of both parties are shouting at anyone who does not take their side”.  Today it is who makes the most noise and scares us the most are those whose message is heeded and those men who speak logically and reasonably are overlooked. 

“We live in a hyper-fast, hyper-partisan climate fueled by a ‘me first’ perspective and lightning fast media. The dark side of that self- centered position is that America as a whole is suffering. So, really the problems we face in America come down to our state of mind.  I do believe that there needs to be more ‘we’ and less ‘me.’ We do have some very big problems to solve in a short amount of time. And ‘we’ need to base our decisions to fix these problems on well-researched and credible facts, rather than emotions and opinions.”