On Wednesday I caught perhaps 10 minutes of the Jason Lewis Show but in that short window Jason captured for about 60 seconds exactly what is wrong with this country and how it can be fixed. (Here’s a link to that hour of his show.) Here is my transcript of the relevant statement (starting at 30:03 in the audio file):
We are consumed by things that don’t matter because we don’t have the intellectual discipline to stay focused, we make excuses.
You know really, if you wanted to make a statement, if you were truly upset and you wanted to make a statement: A) You would be bright enough to understand what’s going on, most people are too obtuse to realize that, most people are more concerned about X-Box than they are about what’s happening in Washington and so, frankly, we’re a nation of dolts. But if you could get people to think and to study and to realize what’s going on and that they knew economics and civics, that would be the first step.
The second step would be – everybody in the year 2010 would simply devote, make a commitment right now that they are going to spend two hours a week, three hours a week, four hours a week on campaigns. They’re going to take back their city council, they’re going to take back their party, they’re going to take back their county commission, they’re going to take back their state legislature, they’re going to take back Congress. Their going to find a candidate or two and they are going to work harder than they ever have, they’re going to spread the word, they might write a check for thirty bucks or three thousand bucks, but they’re going to do something.
There’s no substitute for commitment and hard work and that’s what needs to take place. Am I certain it will? No I’m not at all.
I’m absolutely sure that Jason is right about that. In fact I would go further and say that this nation would change drastically within two years if 60% of eligible voters would take just three hours per week to take the actions he suggested – that includes the fact that all those voters would come to a wide variety of conclusions about the proper course of action to deal with the problems we face.
To put that three hours per week commitment into context consider that the average U.S. household watches 8 hours of television per day. That’s 56 hours per week. Even those who would excuse themselves by saying “yes, my household watches 8 hours per day, but I only spend about an hour per day” have no excuse. Three hours per week is only 30 minutes of time per day six days a week. Sixty percent of the voting population could easily find that kind of time in their current leisure time and those in the minority who truly are too busy for that are likely already politically engaged to the degree that Jason and I are suggesting.
Notice that the problem is not our capacity, but our intellectual discipline – that is something that we can control for ourselves and whenever someone decides that the problems are urgent enough they will begin to make that commitment. My fear is that enough people might be numb enough that by the time they recognize the danger it may be too late to avert catastrophe.
Great to be informed about what most people are thinking and receive instructions on what we should be doing!
I don’t know that the people of this nation are really interested in making matters even more political than they are at present. The average American hates politics as much as they hate math classes. Think about that. They don’t dislike politics. They hate politics. Why in the world would they want to spend more of their free time being involved in a system they loathe?
Besides, most Americans understand that the payoff isn’t worth it, because the level of control government exercises over the individual is wholly disproportionate to the amount of influence the individual can exert over government (except for an infinitesimal few members of the political class).
This would be true, even if everyone spent 200 hours annually working on campaigns. In fact, it might even make matters worse, since it would necessarily result in increased politicization of everything. You think we’ve got discord in this country right now? Wait until everyone becomes a campaigner. The natural result of this would be to raise even more philosopher-kings to the ruling class, as the aura of political candidacy increased.
Although most people can’t articulate it, they have an innate appreciation of public choice theory. (See http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PublicChoice.html ) The average person has been indoctrinated enough that they sort of believe in the romantic fairy tale of altruistic public servants. But when it comes to actually choosing how to use their time, they understand that all public officials mainly act in their own interests, and that the best they can hope for is to chance upon one whose self interest somewhat aligns with their own beliefs. They also see that regardless of who holds what seat, the really important things usually go more or less the same way.
I’m not arguing that people should completely disengage from politics. We should each do our civic duty, and we should educate ourselves about the true nature of our social, economic, and political systems. But I am arguing that people are not as obtuse as Mr. Lewis suggests.
Our nation’s Founders did not envision a populace consumed with politics. They envisioned a people that are building society by freely going about doing mostly as they feel best. The political class in both major parties today envisions a people more or less dependent on them for everything. I do not see how increasing the politicization of our society is going to improve that situation.
I don’t think that 3 hours a week could be considered “consumed with politics.” I do believe that as people gain a better understanding of how the system works through that level of engagement they will begin to feel less powerless and realize that they can make a difference. In fact, as people become more informed on the issues I think it possible that we will see less divisiveness because they will more fully appreciate the complexity of the issues. Those who are the most divisive in my experience tend to be those who have chosen a side but have not taken the time to be informed – this is true among those who have chosen the same basic side I agree with and those who have chosen the opposite of what I believe on any given issue.
I say this from my own experience. As I have taken the time to study more and participate in the system I find myself feeling more empowered because I know the pressure points and I don’t have to simply throw up my hands and yell “why don’t you people (in power) get it?”
The people in power don’t get it because they are involved precisely for the sake of power. That is what government is: power over the lives of people. Politicians trade in power; not in liberty. Liberty means reduction in the power of the ruling class.
Darn few people that truly want to devolve power and responsibility back to the people want to become part of the ruling class. And many that do are either marginalized or else absorbed into the political culture that prevails among the ruling class.
People have much better things to do with their time than to run around promoting this or that person that is or wants to become a member of the ruling class. It would be better for them to spend some time each week babysitting and finding ways to place restrictions on the ruling class.
The fact that many who truly do want to devolve power and responsibility back to the people end up marginalized or absorbed into the prevalent political culture is further evidence of the importance of regular turnover among the members of Congress – but you already know that.
I believe that the invitation to make a commitment to spend 2,3, or 4 hours a week on campaigns is not specific to candidate or issue campaigns. I think it is equally applicable to babysitting campaigns and campaigns to place restrictions on the ruling class. If it were simply candidate campaigns any positive effect from that time would be seriously limited.