I had an appointment with my shrink the other day. During the course of our discussion, it became clear that one of my problems in life is that I tend to view the world in absolutes. I have this nasty habit of viewing situations as being entirely bad or entirely good.
This was not news to me and I’m sure it’s not surprising to those who know me. It was convenient, however, to be reminded of how harmful this thought pattern can be – a fact I often forget. Given my tendency toward unproductive cynicism, I often view obstacles in my life a being entirely beyond my ability to overcome or as being too trite for me to even concern myself. The sum effect is my feeling of constantly being at an existential impasse, a premature mid-life crisis. I take full responsibility for this and understand that it is my problem to correct and nobody else’s. Looking back, I can see the cause and effect of this mentality stretching on like a senseless trail of dominoes.
I’m also struck by this same senselessness when I behold the workings of modern American politics. Now more than ever, our government has fallen victim to a dangerously dichotomous mentality.
The most recent manifestation of this bi-polar attitude is the recent row over Tom Delay, House Majority Leader in Congress. Delay is a reactionary representative who has made some very volatile comments recently, including not-so-veiled threats against federal judges who chose not to intercede in the Terry Schiavo affair.
News coverage of this situation has highlighted another very disturbing aspect of Delay’s career. Republican representatives quail before his ability to penalize party members who do not stay the neo-conservative course. He has, in the past, pulled Republican representatives from committees simply because they dared to differ from his own point of view.
This kind of power has made Delay a figurehead of the new bicameralism. Forget what your middle school civics textbook mentioned regarding the Senate and the House of Representatives; the only two houses in the American Congress now are Republicans and Democrats. President Bush was actually being quite sagacious when he implied that you’re either with us or with them. Unfortunately, his comments are more applicable to our own government than they are to the world of terrorism.
The Republican’s are not the only ones responsible for this, though. Both sides of the political aisle have fallen victim to reactionary politics. It is evident whenever you witness a representative or senator speaking of impending decisions. The first words out of that senator’s mouth will usually have more to do with the balance of power in the government or the dictates of his or her party, not with the concerns of the constituency he or she represents.
This black-and-white mentality reaches far beyond the halls of Capitol Hill. In fact, one could say it has its roots in the media. Talk radio is the first area where reactionary politics really found a voice. What is disturbing is the way in which this dynamic has crept into real government.
As previously stated, in my personal life this all-or-nothing point of view has given rise to a serious case of arrested development. I often hesitate because I tend to believe that I must dedicate myself entirely to this or entirely to that. The end result is that I risk becoming entirely dedicated to nothing.
Reactionary politics has the same effect upon the American people. We are constantly being bombarded with the message that you have to sell your soul to this devil or that devil. And this works. As is obvious in repeated elections, votes always fall along party lines. The problem is that this betrays the true makeup of the American people. I might be naïve, but I don’t think that most people tend to tie themselves entirely to the dictates of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. I know the views my friends hold to be much more varied and textured.
But the lack of a mouthpiece through which to voice this diversity stultifies our desire to make a difference. Messages promulgated by the media reinforce this. Real news has been supplanted by "debate" shows such as Crossfire or Hard Ball where real discussion of important issues is replaced with two people engaging in worthless polemics like they were playing ping pong.
If I were given to conspiracy theory, I would be tempted to say that this is all a plot to keep the American people in a state of inaction. It would be nice to externalize the matter in this way, but the truth is that we are also to blame. To a certain degree, we do this to ourselves. We do it every time we decide it’s either this candidate or that candidate, but never that third candidate. We do it whenever we fail to see that there are more than two sides to arguments such as abortion, euthanasia, or social security reform. The whole idea of compromise – which I remember my civics textbook saying our country was founded on – implies the existence of more than one side to an issue. This is idea is in need of a renaissance.
In the end, my visit to the psychologist was productive. I partook of some fine waiting room literature, got to indulge in talking about myself for a whole hour, and came to the realization that I’m only as crazy as the country in which I live.
