Power Line's John Hinderaker writes some
serious stuff that, upon reflection, is probably mostly true and sort of makes hash of much written about politics. See what you think of it:
The unprofitable faux-debate over gun control is not so different from much of our political discourse. Liberals and conservatives alike stake out positions on firearms not because they seriously expect any impact in the realm of public policy, but rather because they want to signal to their cohort of voters: I am one of you. But isn’t that often the case?
Left and right spar over abortion, but no one seriously thinks the law is going to change. It can’t, given rogue Supreme Court rulings. Defunding Planned Parenthood would seem to be an easily achievable goal, but even that appears unattainable. Conservative politicians vow to cut federal spending, when they know perfectly well that federal spending isn’t going to decline no matter who commands the majority in Washington. Liberal politicians vow to protect the poor and the helpless, when they know that their policies mostly hurt the poor and, in any event, there is only one direction in which government benefits will move, until the crash comes: up.
All of this, and much more, is mostly signaling: telling voters that I, the politician, am the same sort of person as you, the voter. Few people seriously expect major policy differences to result from an election. Rather, they hope that an election will show that “we” are on top, and “you” are on the outs. That in itself is cause for celebration; it has little to do with any impact in the real world of public policy. The sterile debate over gun rights is maybe an extreme case, but in my opinion, it is not very different from much of what passes for political discourse in our debased era.
That is one seriously cynical author, basically echoing the possibly apocryphal Woody Allen quote:
Things will get worse and worse, and never get better again.
Checks and balances gone wild, making any real movement very nearly impossible.
