Earlier this month New York Times columnist Gail Collins wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece in which she tried to determine which political culture is worse: New York's or Illinois's.
Either state can lay claim to being the nation's most politically dysfunctional. Illinois's most recent former governor, a Democrat, was impeached for corruption and official misconduct. The state legislature voted 114-1 to remove him from office. His predecessor, a Republican, is currently serving a six year, six month prison sentence after being convicted on federal corruption charges in 2006. More recently the Illinois Democratic Party's nominee for lieutenant governor tearfully withdrew from the race in a news conference that was conducted at a tavern during halftime of the Super Bowl. He either didn't realize or didn't care that candidates running for public office must expect investigations into their background. His past includes owing $54,000 in child support, allegations he forced himself sexually on his ex-wife, charges of putting a knife to the throat of his girlfriend (who was later charged with prostitution), and to top it all off.....gasp....steroid use!
New York's most recent ex-governor lost his job thanks to a sex scandal. His successor, a fellow Democrat, has problems of his own, although most objections to him are based more on his demonstrated incompetence rather than any perceived dishonesty. The recent expulsion from the New York State Senate of a solon who sliced his girlfriend's face with a piece of broken glass provides further evidence that the Empire State's public servants might well rate as the nation's worst.
There was a great deal of reaction to the column, but surprisingly much of it came from outside of New York and the Land of Lincoln. The Times received thousands of letters from around the country from people claiming their state's politicians made those blackguards in Illinois and New York seem like selfless, thoughtful, reasonable citizens whose sole motivation for entering public service was to make the world a better place . The Tines's online edition published a fraction of the letters the essay inspired, but the reaction was so overwhelming that Ms. Collins felt compelled to write a follow-up piece three days later. In it she paraphrased various letter-writers from around the nation who presented mountains of evidence that elected officials from their state had engaged in the sort of idiocy and misconduct that could put those unprincipled clowns from Chicago and the Empire State to shame.
The column on the knuckleheads in New York and Illinois politics was meant to be funny, and it was. But there's an underlying fact that's far more depressing than Ms. Collins's lighthearted essay was amusing.
Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Hawaii, Connecticut, California, Idaho, and Virginia were all nominated by some of their residents as having a political atmosphere at least as toxic as Illinois's or New York's. And all these states have one thing in common: their elected officials are voted into office by a too-small percentage of an increasingly obtuse and apathetic electorate. Far too many Americans don't bother to educate themselves on relevant issues (the health care debate being an obvious example), and those attempting to do so often obtain their information from only one source, which is all too frequently a for-profit entity like a talk-radio demagogue, a propaganda-spewing cable TV network, or the right-wing (or left wing) blogosphere. Adding to our nation's potentially lethal case of empty-headedness: slick, deceptive ads aimed at easily led people who are unable or unwilling to think for themselves. Too many of our nation's public servants are presented to us through slick ad campaigns put together by influential, clever, soulless (and increasingly wealthy) public relations specialists and marketers who specialize in hoodwinking the masses. The most reliable weapon in their rhetorical arsenal: appeals aimed at the public's growing list of prejudices, fears and suspicions. Such campaigns are financed by those counting on influencing (or in some cases outright owning) the candidate they're backing once he/she is elected. And given a recent decision by an allegedly apolitical Supreme Court, one whose Conservative members loudly decry "judicial activism," this state of affairs is about to get exponentially worse.
It's impossible to say for certain which state possesses the most corrupt, arrogant, greedy, selfish, egotistical and ineffective politicians. But it's profoundly disturbing that all of them were elevated to their current positions of influence by an increasingly shrill band that's growing less thoughtful at nearly the same alarmingly rapid rate they're growing more entitled. This large, increasingly strident group is demanding more of their government every day, while at the same time expecting further tax cuts.
No foreign terrorist group is chipping away at our nation's foundation any more effectively than willfully ignorant Americans are.
Andy YoungReturn to main page
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