Politics—and electoral politics most flagrantly—is the projection of the illusion of competence onto the illusion of understanding. Its field of concern is what are called “issues,” a large part of which comprises the aspects of a society it refuses to recognize as its own and that it tells itself it can ameliorate without changing its most basic nature. Many of these issues are lingering but fluctuate around a threshold of tolerability, so that a temporary drop in crime may lead to an increased focus on immigration, or rising unemployment may draw voters’ attention away from entitlement reform. Because issues tend to be structural rather than incidental, they often seethe for years or decades even as the public’s attention is turned elsewhere, only to reemerge as outrage bait to discredit whoever happens to be in power.
Read Full Article »
