Dear George,
We owe a debt of gratitude to our political consultant who has been so influential in the containment of democracy. Beginning with the Nixon-Kennedy debate in 1960, consultants realized that the medium was all. Appearance, not substance wins elections; the strong candidate is the marketable candidate.
Our consultants proceeded to defang politics by reducing campaigns that were once clashes of ideas to media events in which the cosmetic and the superficial reigned supreme. Such a transition is possible only in a culture that sends American Idiot to the top of the charts.
A political process that once addressed problems now runs away from them. The reason is simple: every issue has two sides to it. For a candidate to take a stand on any given issue involves alienating those who disagree. The first rule for any contestant in a beauty contest is, “Don’t piss anybody off!”
The successful candidate is the candidate so devoid of principle that he can focus on his persona. In place of principles, we get platitudes.
The influence of political consultants has grown with the corporatization of politics. H.L. Mencken once said, “All politicians must acquire a taste for boot polish.” And the boot polish ours lick is corporately owned. This presents a major challenge for p/r hacks that must make the bland exciting.
The passion that once fired political debate in this country is now abstracted and rationalized, a product of focus groups instead of ideals. The abstraction of passion gives rise to the banality of evil that is comfortable with slaughter because it never gets blood on its hands.
America is a better place to live thanks to a political process that offends no one by believing in nothing. The candidate’s invocation of God conceals his existential nihilism.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
6:53:15 AM 
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