What ever happened to intelligent discourse?

I read a pretty good letter to the editor in the Daily Pennsylvanian. I'm impressed enough to replicate it in it's entirety.

To the Editor:

The 2005 election has come and gone, and both major political parties will no doubt look at their respective gains and strategize for next year. But in truth, it doesn't matter which side "wins" the election, because either way America loses.

In George Washington's farewell address, he warned about the dangers of political parties, stating: "they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government."

Remember, this is a man who didn't really want to be President but accepted the role as his civic duty. It is clear he cared deeply about his country, and didn't want the ideals of our nation, which he helped found, to be desecrated by power-hungry individuals. It saddens me to say that his fears have become reality.

Just take a look at Congress and you will see enough childish squabbling that it would make you think you were watching a sports rivalry, rather than our government at work. What ever happened to intelligent discourse?

Accusations are thrown right and left with neither party missing a chance to disparage their opposition. It is clear that these politicians care only about their own personal agenda, and are sacrificing the goals of our country so that they can remain in power. Politicians frequently defend their colleagues' illegal or immoral activity for fear of weakening their party's image.

These political parties no longer represent the people and serve to divide our country needlessly. If they can't start passing more bi-partisan bills with the aim of improving our country as a whole, it is our duty to stop supporting these parties that long ago stopped supporting us.

Jonathan Gershon

College '08

Pretty astute for a sophomore.

For the most part the stuff that flies around the punditry is even worse (google John Stewart's "hurting America") and bloggers are no exception. I think the annonymity of bloggers actually exacerbates their radical views (or possibly it's a matter of there not being editorial selection). Anyway, it is a very valid question, "What ever happened to rational discourse?" I'm sure people of various political stripes will blame others of different stripes ad infinitum, but part of the issue is the use of political mechanisms to enforce party-line voting. There is now a problem, and it's getting worse. Even basic news comes in different political flavors.

Question two: what should we do about it? Although it may never have the cult-of-personality of either the Right or the Left, there is a rising Centrist movement in the blogosphere. Now the thing about centrists, is they're likely to disagree over a number of topics, on the other hand, the good thing about centrists is they are disproportionately powereful, those rare "swing votes". More on this later.