Political Prattle

Dance around the question and avoid specifics.

If you sound like you know what you're talking about, people will assume you do.

"In your heart, you know he's right."  -- Campaign slogan for Barry Goldwater in 1964. He lost.

"My mouth got ahead of my brain." -- Maine Gov. Paul  LePage, in trying to back away from his comment that out-of-state drug dealers impregnate "young white" women.

   The American political system too often comes up with leaders the country deserves, not the kind it needs.
   Hearing the same prattle every day can give a conscientious voter an ache. Unfortunately, not all voters are conscientious, and some are not even conscious. Or they are unable to tune out the Daily Prattle. Many are working, so they don't have the opportunity. Others are looking for work, so they don't have the time or motivation.
   Then there are the rare few who are conscientious about their civic duty, conscious of the potential repercussions of a particular candidate's victory, and willing to listen to the speechifying so they can separate the kernels of wisdom from the nuts in the shell game. Moreover, they take the time and the effort to try.
   Currently, however, the battle for the GOP presidential nomination in the U.S. features only the entertainment, and ignores the educational.
   The good news is that we are some six months away from the nominating conventions, and a full ten months away from Election Day. A lot can happen in that time, including the chances that someone who wins the Iowa caucus next month and/or the New Hampshire primary election shortly after that may be well forgotten come convention time in the summer.
   The bad news is that the candidate with the most entertaining act, combined with the ability to appeal to the most disgruntled of American voters, may succeed in getting citizens to listen to and believe the prattle of a demagogue.
   Is this any way to run a country?

   As noted in this space more than two years ago, "Reality, however, has seldom interfered with the preconceived notions of extremists, whether on the Right or the Left. Witness the House vote 40 times over to repeal the Affordable Care Act, knowing such an effort is futile. What's up with that?
   "Compromise, though sometimes harmful, is what helped form America -- indeed, compromise is crucial to any democratic society -- and continuing compromise is what enables government to function. Without compromise, government ceases to function."
   Now, because of an obdurate few, we have a dysfunctional electoral cycle, at least on one side.