Curmudgeon's Corner

Political Polarization

Posted by Al Campbell on Sept. 24, 2012

U.S., Political, Quality of Life

With the debates looming near on the political horizon, the race is on to set up the opponent by indicating that he or she will have an edge in the debates.  Obviously this is designed to create a situation where anything but a victory will create the image of a loser.

Also, since the debates announced so far feature only moderators and the bulk of participating panelists who are liberal members of the establishment press, I doubt that it makes either Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan the favorite in any debate, even if they were the better debater.

As I reflect over past election seasons, I wonder just where this biased press we have today actually began its ascendency.  Tom Brokaw seemed to keep his political views pretty well hidden, for example until after he left the microphone and camera behind.  Edward R. Murrow did not seem to have a political bent.  Eric Severeid did not seem to have a ‘dog in the fight’ as he unfolded each story.  When did the people who comprise what we call the ‘press’ begin to wear their feelings on their sleeves?

Was CNN the start of overt political biases?  Did the covert broadcaster begin as a person who had been in government, such as Chris Matthews?  Matthews’ has been a partisan political operative for so long as I can remember, and then he became part of the press and began to conduct himself with virtually nothing of his personal views held back.  He made no effort to conceal or to even remotely try to keep his opinions in check.  Now he personifies the rabid dog liberal as the spittle flies when he gets over-excited.

So we come to the ‘debates’ that are supposedly conducted on a level playing field, and we who are conservative know the bias that we will see.  Conservatives see it immediately but liberals tend to disbelieve there is any bias.  If you see bias, you cannot imagine someone not recognizing the fact.  If you don’t see it, you tire of those conservatives who always claim bias; you might even go so far as to think that an even-handed question is simply bias against the liberal politician.

There may be a middle occupied by so-called independents, but the left and the right of our political spectrum grow further apart with every election cycle.  I wonder how far this division will go before it either explodes in our collective faces or morphs into something else.

We have become radically polarized in my seven decades on this earth; it is difficult for me to imagine that further polarization can continue.  Once we have become polar opposites, where do we possibly go to become even more polarized?