“Politics,” political consultant Bill Miller told (reminded?) us in 1991, “is show business for ugly people.”
The last couple of weeks of a presidential election cycle always put that timeless truth on steroids, especially but not only when one of the candidates is a billionaire former “reality TV” star whose idea of closing the deal is having himself filmed looking befuddled by the process of donning an apron (someone else eventually tied it for him) before glad-handing a few carefully selected “customers” at a (closed) McDonald’s in a desperate attempt to generate “regular guy” vibes.
That candidate’s major party opponent could have used a few weeks of intensive training with a drama coach to help her move beyond carefully curated answers to softball questions and cackles on cue.
If Kamala Harris manages to come off as ever so slightly less cognitively impaired than Donald Trump, she also comes off as a great deal more boring.
The whole show would represent a ratings bomb if we didn’t let it get under our skins and sell itself as far more important than it really is.
So, a reminder: Outside the political circus tent, the real world still exists.
As an anarchist, one thing I like to point out to friends who still maintain an attachment to the whole idea of political government is that the biggest parts of most of our lives are already separated from that idea.
On a day-to-day basis, how much does it REALLY matter, to your life and how you live it, who the president is or which party controls Congress?
Does Donald Trump tell you what to eat for breakfast?
Does Kamala Harris whisper recommendations in your ear for bets on next week’s football games?
Do you care what the Speaker of the House thinks about music, or which dramedy the Senate Majority Leader can’t wait to see?
Do you love your partner, parents, or children any more or less because some politician lectured you on the matter?
For better or worse, I chose a career related to politics several decades ago. Most of you didn’t.
Most of you are factory workers, fry cooks, engineers, truck drivers, etc., 40 hours a week or more (I’ve been the first two myself).
Most of you are parents, children, siblings, partners, etc. 24/7/365, no matter which politician occupies which office.
If you can’t bring yourself to turn away from and stop staring at the combination train wreck / dumpster fire that we know as politics, at least make sure you don’t forget those other things.
They’re far more important and, really, far more interesting.
The current show will end. Unfortunately, it always gets rebooted. Whether you watch, and how intently, is up to you.
Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter:@thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.
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