Lowest Common Denominators

What are the issues that matter to you? What roils your blood and makes you want to howl at the TV during a news cast or video ad?  

Who is saying what about the issues you are riled up about? Who’s voice is pushing for votes or action to ‘preserve’ our values and core beliefs? 

What are the issues? Might they be:

• Taxes; too damn many and too damn high; let me keep my hard earned cash!
• Too many people expect others to take care of them; they don’t plan or take responsibility for their own lives, decisions; to hell with them!
• Government is too liberal; they tell us what to do
• Government is too big; it gets involved in to much of our daily lives
• High corporate taxes are killing job creation and investment
• Deficit spending and federal debt is smothering us
• All of our history goes back to marriage between a man and a woman; changing that would change everything! It would lead to many problems
• Health is my business, not the government’s; keep them out of my personal business
• If it’s in the Bible it’s good enough for me; our laws should be based on the Bible
• This is a Christian nation; why do we let Muslims, Jews and non-believers have any say in the USA?
• About gays; it isn’t right; let them deal with their own problems; they chose them, let them deal with them
• Those Muslims are out of control; look at all the terrorism they are connected to throughout the world; man they could do it here; don’t let them in
• If you are here illegally, go back to your own country; you are not welcome here

As I wrote these items I kept picturing Rick Santorem, Newt Gingrich, and a host of other Republican presidential candidates; Romney, too. In fact these issues are almost exclusively part and parcel of the Republican political script today and for the past four years. Problem is these sound bites are misleading at best and downright false and worse.  

Why the issues have any traction in a country that claims to be well intentioned, well educated, and creative and future-thinking escapes my logic. Each and every one of the issues listed above can be easily refuted. So why do they persist in public discussion and news casts? 

Because they are easily made. But it takes time to refute sound bites. Media offers the sound bites to prove they are ‘balanced’ in their news presentation. How do we counter these mindless statements and positions? Is the American public aware of this? Are they gullible enough to believe this junk? 

Polls say they believe it. How else can we exit a presidential primary season with such negative feelings all around and Romney getting the brunt of ill will and then, less than a week later, polls indicate Americans believe Romney can lead the nation out of its economic doldrums? How can that polling result be so quickly made? We can discuss many aspects of why Romney’s policy won’t repair the economy. He and the Republican leaders have stymied the Obama administration’s every move while blaming him. The economy and politics simply don’t work the way a lot of people think they do.  

So what do we do? How do we counter the game players who constantly seek the lowest common denominator among us to win votes, power and economic gain? How do we do this positively without falling into the negative trap? 

I’m open to suggestions, here. I’ve been making the arguments all along in this blog, but is that enough? Are others making the same points? Am I making too much of this? Are the polls not credible? Am I dead wrong in my conclusions? 

I’m looking for answers here.  I’m getting very uncomfortable watching any news programs these days; the incomplete reports, the misleading conclusions, the faulty data, answering the wrong questions…all of this is leading me toward turning off the TV. Should I, or is this too drastic a reaction? 

Help! I need your input here.  

April 27, 2012