Politics is boring. I can just hear my kids saying that, usually when I’m turning the TV to what they affectionately call “one of Dad’s arguing shows.”
Well, I like a good debate and politics is not boring, doesn’t have to be anyway. Still, I know that most Americans are on my kids’ side, not mine. That’s why it was nice of the folks who produce Monday Night Football to start their program later for a couple weeks. That way we can see some more of the political conventions without missing football.
Boy, politics vs. preseason football, I think we know who wins that battle. Certainly political folks will complain about the public not being involved enough in politics. But it would help convince people that politics isn’t boring if it weren’t in fact so darn boring much of the time. I have to admit that myself.
Take the conventions, please. When I was a kid political conventions were a lot more exciting than they are today. Back then no one knew for sure who would end up on top at the convention. Today everything even the choice for vice-president is known in advance. In the past, presidential campaigns were marathons, not sprints. Delegates were fought for and their support had to be maintained through the convention.
Today, everything is decided within a few weeks of the primaries and delegates just go to party. Perhaps the powers that be like it this way. But it’s not good for democracy. Politics is too important to be boring.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.