https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/07/31/the-voters-are-to-blame/By Jennifer Rubin July 31
We are supposed to accept at face value that politicians are so rotten and have been so corrupt that the public is understandably angry and therefore embraces extreme candidates such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and buffoons and xenophobes such as Donald Trump. The voters have been done wrong, the theory goes, so they really cannot be blamed for embracing a raving lunatic for president of the United States. Really? Frankly, none of this rings all that true.
First, while this is not exactly Morning in America, it is not the Great Depression nor the Civil War. Times at home have been worse, and while this is indeed a chaotic time on the international stage, we are not (yet) past the ability to correct course, rebuild our armed forces and recover moral authority in the world.
In American history there were times when voters were certainly more entitled to be enraged with leaders — the Jim Crow era, the Watergate era, etc. — and yet the major parties kept their bearings and voters kept their heads. Voters veered slightly right or left, or dabbled with an eccentric figure such as Ross Perot, neither major party — let alone both of them — ever fell prey to hucksters, demagogues or real radicals. (George McGovern frankly looks awfully tame compared to avowed socialist Bernie Sanders.)
In short, the country as a whole behaved a lot more reasonably when faced with far greater provocations. We have experienced more desperate times and worse political leadership and yet the level of political discourse was far better than it is now and the influence of the extremes in each party was far less.
There are many culprits when it comes to radicalizing politics, coarsening the culture and politics and feeding a woe-is-me mentality. Disgruntled voters and pundits like to blame the baby boomer generation of politicians for less-than-ideal leadership, but what can be more baby boomer-like than whining that no people in American history have had to put up with more, no electorate has ever been so provoked as much, etc. The overreaction to real and imagined political sleights is itself quintessential baby boomer behavior, as is the emotion-laden tone of politics and the refusal of citizens to engage civilly with one another. It’s baby boomers who made politicians into celebrities and campaigns into cults. Donald Trump makes a lot more sense when you realize seven years ago we elected a grossly unqualified figure whose great contribution to political rhetoric was “Yes we can,” and who told us with a straight face he would stop the seas from rising.
It is remarkable that the same voices who decry the counterrevolution of the 1960s now declare that what is important in politics is how we feel (angry!). How can you blame the voters if they rush to embrace cranks, phonies and snake oil salesmen? Well, we can and we should blame voters. Someone is listening to all that talk radio and talking-head cable news. Someone is creating phony issues, inciting the public against immigrants and deliberately misrepresenting issues. President Obama liked to recite an empty line: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Whatever that means, it is more accurate to say, “We’ve met the enemy and he is us.”
Voters are so angry, in good part, because they and fellow citizens whip each other into a frenzy, paint opponents as enemies, refuse compromise, peddle in conspiracy theories, eschew thoughtful discussion of the issues, demand quick answers and reject obvious realities (we can’t spend more without more revenue). For such a populace — especially one as uninformed and politically inactive as this — Trump is about what you’d expect as a political “star.” For Democrats immune to math and Economics 101, Bernie We-Have-Too-Many-Brands-of-Deodorant Sanders is about what they deserve.
We have unserious and unfit leaders because voters are unserious and too often reject sensible, fit candidates for office. We need not be so infuriated with mediocre leaders that we jump into the arms of charlatans. We need not be infuriated at all — only disgusted enough to elect more reasonable officials, sane enough to ignore claptrap spewed by ideologically super-charged media and responsible enough to attend to many of the pathologies in our own communities.
Certainly, mature and even inspiring leadership is needed. But if we had it I’m not sure the electorate would recognize it. If citizens want better leaders they can start by being more conscientious citizens and more discriminating news consumers and by exhibiting more self-control and respect for others.
When adults acknowledge that Trump is spouting rubbish but still insist that at least he is “telling it like it is,” the remedy is not to banish Trump but to ask our fellow citizens to get a grip. We get the politicians, campaigns and media we deserve. If we want all three to be better, we need to stop embracing the worst of each.
