A California Republican

Have you ever heard a good argument? You sit there and, even if you don’t agree with the speaker’s point of view, say that the reasoning is interesting, or that you think she made a good point, or that you think he has a sound logical base for his point of view. These days, we are getting less and less argument from our elected officials and more stonewalled.

When the Republicans in the legislature say they don’t want t oraise taxes, that is all we get. They don’t even try to explain their position. Putting more taxes on people in a down economy only ensures the economy will stay down, why should we ask for more of people’s money when we cannot balance what we get, what should government really be apying for, we cannot ask for more from the people when we don’t know that we have trimmed government all we can - those are all good statements that need to be said, and reasoned, in public so that there are good arguments to be heard.

Democrats have the same problem. They simply state that they don’t want any more cuts. They don’t reason this out, they simply make it a statement. Or you hear other things from the Democrats like, “Education is a priority and should be funded.” No reasoning, simply statements.

Part of the lack of debate, and good arguments, is that the news is done in 30 second sound bites and doesn’t air an argument. Debates don’t allow for argument between the candidates, simply for position statements. But the most important reason is that the public doesn’t seem to care whether there are good arguments or not.

A political scientist named Zaller did a study that found people in opinion surveys are wishy-washy - they give the opinion that is most recent in their mind, and not the one they truely hold. If the person being interviewed saw a movie on campaign finance reform the night before, then that will be at the top of their mind and it will make an appearance in the interview. If you talk to that same person 3 weeks later, there will be different issues that are more important based on what has been seen or heard recently.

So why should politicians argue? Good argument and debate takes effort. So why should they do it if they don’t think it will make a difference?

Do something about this perception. Pick an issue, any issue, and write letters or emails once a week about the issue. If everyone did this, I think we would be surprised at the response from our elected officials.