The reason media coverage of the presidential campaign has been so tepid is that traditional elections have been hard-fought contests between two or more contrasting political parties. Because we are a one-party state, there is no real contrast between the competing candidates, thus the media can only stimulate interest and ratings by focusing on the trivial and the inane.
John Edwards had hold of a half truth when he spoke of the “two Americas.” There are, indeed, two, but the division is not one of economics or class.
There is the America that is the country we all occupy, and then there is Brand-America that is the property of a gaggle of feral old men, also known as our oligarchy. What we occupy, they own, just as they own the three branches of government. Candidates aren’t after a higher office; they’re after a promotion.
Nobody knows how many feral old men there are because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has never done a head count. It really doesn’t matter because all you need to start a plague is a single germ.
Their success is due to the deftness with which they have conflated their narrow interests with American interests. When they speak of “national security” they really mean “feral old men security.” In their eyes Brand America is America, an America that has loosened the fetters of democratic freedom.
At least we can sleep better knowing we don’t have to sweat the details.
