Perhaps it's serendipity. The story of John Adams is being televised into millions of American homes each Sunday evening just as we need to be reminded of the struggle, in every sense, required to found, develop and maintain a democracy.
With the obligation of inheriting the beacon of democracy nourished and protected by those who came before us, why are we allowing ourselves to be ill-served by so many in the media? Who knew there were so many lunatics in journalism or hired part time willing to undermine our future for a few minutes of prime time exposure?
Four thousand military men and women have died in Iraq. Countless civilians have perished in the violence. Gasoline and heating oil becomes more expensive by the day. Drought, poverty, illness and human despair are increasingly ignored. U.S. debt is soaring, in marked contrast to other countries in the developed world. Personal privacy is diminishing. Dissemblers remain ensconced in the White House, capable of perpetrating further harm on America and the world before they depart.
Stressed-out, hard-working Americans have less time than ever to sift through the variety of printed and online news sources necessary to decipher what is truly going on in these and other important areas. Instead, they stagger home from work, put their aching feet up, and attend to a nonstop onslaught of, to borrow a phrase, blathering inconsequence.
They hear "newscasters" preface opinions and vilifications that could and should be attributed to specific sources, if uttered at all, with negligent, cowardly qualifying phrases such as "Some people think..." and "Some are saying...." Too cheap and lazy to conduct real research, they regurgitate the same gaggles of "journalists," "strategists" and "political experts" night after night, saving their parent conglomerates huge amounts of money at the expense of our edification.
They pose silly questions about the future -- as if we can really learn by repeating them -- whether Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will one day run on the same ticket -- whether the Democratic Party is self-destructing -- or whether criticism leveled by one Democrat toward another will enable John McCain to win the election.
Over and over, the major channels dredge up the same paid commentators to tell us the same things and take the same gratuitous swipes at their target candidate or at each other. Indeed, some of them resemble pitbulls in a dogfight.
Television and radio remain uniquely capable of providing countless numbers of people with important, on-the-spot access to each presidential candidate's views, policy statements and actions. Failing that -- which is exactly what most of the major electronic media are doing -- we will end up with a president who assumes office by virtue of still standing when the onslaught of irresponsibility and ignorance has ended.
David McCullough's biography of John Adams reminds us that pathological politics during presidential elections is nothing new. But is exaggerating the low points the way we will identify the leaders we need to end the current madness? The fleeting thrill many experience when their favorite candidate nails another with a sound bite in lieu of intelligent analysis is not worth the potential loss to America and the world.
What can we as individuals do to raise the level of the national debate? Read more. Think more. Get up and turn off the television or radio when our leading "news" people or "commentators" promulgate the same old garbage.
How long will we continue to endure such idiocy -- or worse, to enjoy it? Look at what it gave us the last two times. Unless we get smart, we're destined to repeat that debacle one way or another. Far more than "some people" ought to be insisting that this is one price America cannot afford to pay.