That's the paradox of our political system in the U.S. Why have we gotten rotten presidents in the past (both Rep and Dem)? Mostly because the media can make anyone look good or bad, we don't demand substance in our political campaigns (just look at the so-called debates this year), and because lies, corruption, and win-at-all-costs is the political morality we have come to accept in the last half of the twentieth century. Why? Because in a two-party system, if both sides do it, we have no real choice. Voting for either side supports the problem, and not voting only strengthens those who do.
People today are largely voting for shadows of reality. Exposure is everything, while moral principal and political integrity are dismissed as side issues. For too many Americans, it's all about who looks and sounds like someone who is a winner, and not what they stand for.
The real problem is not the system or the candidates, both of which are much the same as they have been for more than a century. What has changed is the voting American, and his/her perception and values. There is an overwhelming throng of Americans who have been weaned on the milk of style over substance and bleeding-heart causes over cold hard facts. Most Americans of voting age have never been exposed to wars fought against evil empires that threaten democracy and freedom (though they are now and don't seem to realize it), real and total economic depression, or the need to sacrifice in sweat and blood for the values you hold dear. This is the era of the war protester, the comfy white-collar executive, the no-longer-starving artist, the sound-bite spin-doctor, and the naive and pampered American.
I hoped that a silver linng in the storm cloud of 9/11 would be that a seed of strength would be planted in the hearts and minds of Americans. But the sad truth is that most Americans have been able to easily mourn for a while, make symbolic tribute to this loss, and continue blindly on with their comfortable and secure lives. It simply did not touch them at their very souls. There are many whose lives did change, whose souls were touched, whose mentality has been awakened, but there are many more who have not experienced any fundamental change. They still drive their cars with no thought to where gasoline comes from, they still watch the garbage broadcast on TV with ambivalent interest, they still think that American lives lost in the Middle East is too high a price for freedom from world terrorism and tyranny.
I fear it will get worse before it gets better, if in fact it ever does get better.
