As I have shared previously, I was born and raised in our nation's capitol.  I don't know why I feel the need to constantly point this out except that, at 53, my true political life is probably 50: When you grow up in D.C., and the surrounding area, politics is in your blood from birth. I also believe it gives my opinions and observations more credence. 

People are constantly asking "what is wrong with our government?", or      " why is Washington broken?". These types of general, vague and leading questions makes me ponder what has changed over the past 30 years or so that has caused my hometown to become so poisonous and vitriolic, and for the public to take such a "them" attitude about these issues when it is the public who IS the government. IF it is broken, then we broke it and we must fix it. We don't simply get to vote every so often and then just complain when things aren't going the way you want; the system "got broken" because people quit participating and became less informed and more apathetic.

O.K., so what has changed significantly over the past 30 or so years? MEDIA. Up until about the late 70s none of the then 3 major networks considered their news departments as "profit centers"; they were fulfilling their FCC required "for the public good" responsibilities. There was a time that the people we watched on T.V. for informative news were trustworthy and generally provided a pretty good snapshot of the days' activities, breaking in when there truly was "breaking News". We did not spend a chunk of the day glued to our sets to "see if the car has been pulled from the rapids yet". With the advent of  cable T.V.  and the eventual cable-based "News" networks, and then the internet, we have become a nation addicted to a 24 hour news cycle. Those that provide the news must come up with words, subjects, interviews, etc. to fill 24 hours and, let's face it folks, not that much changes from day to day, with the exception of truly breaking news such as Haiti or Chile. 

In order to fill 24 hours, these cable channels were increasingly coming up with ideas for formats, hosts, audiences, etc., as a business. News had now become a for-profit industry complete with rivalry and competition.  Once the notion of profiting from news was developed, Pandora's box had been opened. Instead of journalists we had T.V. personalities who had writers. Then we began getting "themed" shows; Crossfire- a political "debate" show, Inside Politics- more opinion peddling. I mentioned only CNN shows because they have been around the longest and, I believe, deserve much of the blame for the current state of our media. The news channels that followed such as MSNBC and Fox News just went down the same path. (Anybody who considers Glen Beck a true news source hasn't done any homework.) Now we have all of these "sources" pandering to various fringe groups who, as a whole, are NOT a snapshot of our country; they are a snapshot of what the new "news" demagogues(read; manipulators of the week-minded), have wrought upon us.

The 24 hour news cycle, coupled with the growing voter apathy that causes reduced turnout at the polls, has caused people to pay way too much attention to things they don't even need to know.  Subjects that should be entirely local become fodder for the cable networks, and this approach tends to lead to fanaticism and intimidation all at once. People become aggressively opinionated based on what really are entertainment shows rather than legitimate news sources.  That the issue they are opinionated about never mattered until they were told to be upset is irrelevant.  I believe this  cycle to be the principal cause of todays divisive climate, both socially and politically.

Socially speaking, the 24 hour news cycle keeps issues in front of people whether or not these issues have been a subject of interest to the viewer, which tends to lead to the viewer forming an opinion on a subject they have, up until having been "forced" to,  had no interest in! We now have a man-made section of society that feels it needs to voice these "opinions", usually in an aggressive manner, whether it be anti-this or that movements, or "tea parties", or whatever. These same people quite often were never previously prone to be involved in any political activity. This makes it easier to pre-suppose their depth of knowledge about  the constitution, and how the rights of the minority are protected, and that we are NOT a christian nation, etc. (Generally speaking, it is my experience that the more someone is educated about our constitution, the more active they become in the political process and the more progressive they become as thinkers.) The 24 hour news cycle has made the old fashioned concept of a "neighborhood", where everyone knows each other, their kids, etc., almost non-existent anymore; we KNOW what we don't have in common with our neighbors, and we/they don't like it, so why bother getting to know one another?

Politically, the 24 hour news cycle has caused so much mis, or partial, information to be put out in front of the public, often before even a cursory fact check and quite often in spite of a fact check. If a lie or incorrect or distorted "fact" is repeated often enough, many begin to believe it. Now we have a section of society who previously had no interest in politics being dragged into it in a variety of ways: From the right we get inflammatory, false rhetoric that gay marriage will hurt the "traditional" institution of marriage, to which I respond that I think the current divorce rate is a far greater threat to the afore mentioned institution. From the left we get that anyone who disagrees with them is a hater. I have stated before, as my profile shows, I am a socialist democrat and the degree to which either side has gone to not only draw their line in the sand, but to use heavy equipment to do it, is so un-American it makes me ill. This divisiveness was caused, and is fed, by the 24 hour news cycle. Do you and your country a favor- skip the "news" show you don't ever miss and chose a topic and do some research into it. My latest was, surprise, the 1981 Budget Reconciliation Act. This was a simple google, and the wealth of verifiable information was more than enough. It also tells me the process is applicable.

If you are reading this then you have access to the internet. You have no excuse for not knowing what is going on in gov't; email the White House; I do weekly. E-mail your congressional delegation; that's 3 per person. I do it weekly. Watch C-span if you can. Go to house.gov or senate.gov and keep in touch with the government you own; it can only function as good as we let it, and constantly saying " I know there's the leak I called about, but now I want you to ...." doesn't help anything.

We live in a REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY, not a pure democracy. History has shown more than once that pure democracies fail under the burden of size. This is why our founders came up with the form we have. We vote every 2, 4 years for people and causes we support. As a citizen of a representative democracy we then need to give the elected ones a chance to do what they campaigned on before we start tearing them down. Read up on the constitution, and read the Federalist Papers.; these were a series of selling points written by the authors of the constitution  under pseudonymns as letter to the editors, etc. to promote ratification of the document. Many times people try to hide behind the constitution they are actually wishing for the Articles of Confederacy; our first form of gov't, and it failed miserably. Give the actual constitution a shot.

In closing I will repeat that, if you use any segment of our 24 hour "news" sources as your sole source of knowledge then you are doing yourself and your country a great disservice. At best the 24 hour news cycle can merely put a topic out there and leave it for the public to decide its importance or relevance. At worst the 24 hour cycle can hammer home falsehoods until they are believed; they can "form" opinions for those not willing to form their own. The final act in this absurdity, after riling up and mis-informing people, is to get them to vote. I would rather have someone educate themselves on an issue/candidate and vote "the other way" than I would a voter who votes simply based on what someone tells them and win.

I guess that's just me; a son of this nation, born and raised in the middle of our history, and proud of it.  Do yourself and the country a favor and try it out. REAL knowledge is a powerful tool; false knowledge is a hidden and often fatal disease. At the very least, turn off the cable news and watch a cartoon or, better yet, start that research...