The Dumbing Down of American Democracy
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about a style of communication that I see from politicians and other public figures, and it is really getting to me. It’s not a just a general style of communication, it is specific to politics, government, and our free society. I'm talking about the clownish oversimplification where every issue, idea, or person is slapped with a "Democrat" or "Republican" sticker. These labels are then used to validate or invalidate ideas, actions, and people. It's as if these statement should tell us all we need to know, like the nutritional facts on a box of cereal. But life, democracy, and politics just isn't that simple.
Take Donald Trump, who seems to see the world through a red-and-blue kaleidoscope. He's been in hot water more times than a lobster at a seafood buffet, and his go-to defense? Pointing fingers at "partisan" judges, juries, prosecutors, and attorneys. Like when he was found liable for sexual abuse and immediately called the judge and jurors "partisan," telling them to be "ashamed of themselves” ¹. Or when he slammed a "Clinton appointed judge" on Truth Social for giving him what he felt was an unfair trial simply because of the President that nominated them decades earlier, with no other reason or evidence ². Most recently, Trump implied that his civil fraud trial will be unfair because he believes that the court clerk is the girlfriend of Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer ³. He's not just turning courtroom drama into political theater, he is implying that people cannot think or act outside of the box of their political party.
Elon Musk gave us another recent example himself. Chiming in on the Joe Rogan podcast, he claimed Twitter was suppressing Republican tweets 10x more than Democrats. But here's a reality check: Tweets get the boot for spewing dangerous lies, hate, or violence, not party allegiance. Let's ask the uncomfortable question—could it be that one side is tweeting significantly more stuff that crosses the line? I don't have a spreadsheet handy to prove it, but come on, the last 10 years in America shows us enough.
Musk, someone believed by many to be one of the smartest people on earth, is mixing up causation and correlation. Is this out of ignorance or, worse, a calculated move to drive a wedge right through the fabric of America?
I am nowhere close to being the smartest person on earth, and yet I clearly understand the differences between correlation and causation. The concept is a basic rule of logical thinking.
So what’s going on? I’ll tell you what I believe: Politicians and big shots like Trump and Musk are either showing the world their lack of smarts or, more sinisterly, they're deliberately playing the pied piper leading us off the cliffs of division. Because of this, America is at a wildly dangerous point in history.
Why do I say that? Well, because these people influence, millions of people listen to them. They eat up these oversimplified, misleading morsels and spit them back out. Every time they do, they chip away at the trust we've got in our system—our courts, our laws, our very democracy. America is built on this trust, the kind that lets us put power in the hands of the people, where politicians are supposed to be our servants, not sultans.
I worry about what happens when that trust goes away. Down comes the house of cards. We've seen it throughout history. Fascist regimes and dictators are elected because people believe they will be the heros that will save the system, the only people that can act without bias. Of course, they aren’t the heros, they don't hand power back to the people. They keep it, and they do whatever it takes to keep their grip tight.
We've got to stand up to this bullshit. Call it out. Tell Trump, Musk, and their ilk that we're not buying what they're selling. We're better than that. We're smarter, more logical, and too dang stubborn to let our democracy get bulldozed by a tweet or a sound bite. And when I see we, I mean all American’s, regardless of political party affiliation. I believe most of us have it inside to be smart, fair, factual, locial, and unbiased if we want to. Don’t let Trump, Musk, and others push that inherent intelligence down into hiding, let it shine.
So, the next time you're chatting about politics with someone who's parroting these divisive lines, hit them with facts, with calm-reason, with the kind of clear-eyed logic that's been the bedrock of this country. Remind them—and maybe ourselves—that we're capable of more, that we're the land of the free thinkers, not the blindly led.
If we don’t, we might just find ourselves in a history book chapter titled "How to Lose a Democracy 101." And with world tensions flaring up in Ukraine and Israel, our democracy needs to be on solid ground more than ever. We can't let it be shaken by those who'd rather see us divided for their own gain or ego. Let's keep our heads, our hearts, and our freedom intact.