Language, Politics and Hypocrisy

Politics isn't about getting something done. It's about staying in office.

   Candidates say what they think voters want to hear in order to win election.
   That doesn't necessarily mean they will do what they say they will do once in office. The first goal is to get elected. The second goal is to get re-elected. Along the way, perhaps they will accomplish something. Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
   Elected officials with a conscience (Yes, there are some.) have decided not to seek re-election, largely because they found themselves from Day One learning how to raise funds for the next election campaign. In good conscience, then, they dropped out of the hypocrisy game and went home.
   We all know by now some of the more flagrant promises made by the victorious candidate during the campaign for President of the United States. Already, he has begun backing away from those very promises.
   The resident cynic, Pug Mahoney, notes that this is typical of politicians. They say what they feel needs to be said, mouthing promises that people want to hear, hoping that playing on the hopes and fears of the electorate will lead to victory on Election Day.
   'Twas always thus.

   But the larger issue is why journalists allowed themselves to be used as media pawns in distracting voters from the really important issues facing the country.
   The answer to that, as suggested in this space in the past, is that reporters themselves are easily distracted. Offer them a juicy treat, and they will follow it, even as they know there are other stories that should be tracked down and reported.
   Gossip attracts more readers and viewers, and sells more copies and raises broadcast ratings, which in turn brings in more revenue.
   Granted, conscientious journalists try to focus their attention, and public attention, on serious issues. But they are too often overruled by a management more interested in readership and revenue than in public service.
   If a newspaper is big enough and healthy enough, it can maintain its emphasis on serious issues. But when competing news outlets follow the gossip carrot dangled by candidates, the pressure to follow the same carrot in hopes of getting a bigger bite can quickly distract even a conscientious news outlet from following the more distant but more important calling.
   Smart politicians and their campaign teams know this, and plan their strategies to get more coverage with less effort.
   As the 19th Century corporate chieftain said when pressured by a reporter respond to the public's right and need to know, "The public be damned. I'm working for my shareholders."
   With very little effort, that same attitude can be transferred to political candidates and their corporate backers.