Once again, Matt Taibbi dares to mention the elephant in the room: How the Hype Became Bigger Than the Presidential Election
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What we Americans go through to pick a president is not only crazy and unnecessary but genuinely abusive. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in a craven, cynical effort to stir up hatred and anger on both sides. A decision that in reality takes one or two days of careful research to make is somehow stretched out into a process that involves two years of relentless, suffocating mind-warfare, an onslaught of toxic media messaging directed at liberals, conservatives and everyone in between that by Election Day makes every dinner conversation dangerous and literally divides families.
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In polite company a few decades ago, people in this country avoided three topics: money, religion, and politics. Somehow everyone managed those issues in their personal lives without endless instructions or demands blaring from TV and radios. It worked well enough that way, mostly better than it does today. The minimum wage was over 30% higher and student loan debts were 300% or more lower. The occasional paranoid batshit crazy politician got elected to Congress, but few survived more than an election or two. Perhaps because voters read newspapers that told them what the politician had done and said. Best of all, by the time one voted, people weren’t already sick of the candidates and all the endless lies, obfuscations, and empty promises.
