Polarization: Are we fighters rather than thinkers?

Our nation's politics are more polarized today than they've ever been during my lifetime, and that is sad. Is it a sign of the times? Is it a sign of a larger culture shift in which we are becoming a nation of fighters rather than thinkers? I don't know, but the thought of it worries me.

It scares me that people seem to respect the bar-buddy more than the scholar. If you assumed I meant Bush as the bar-buddy, then you made my point for me, but really I wasn't referring to him at all. I was referring to the popularity game in general.

Not only do we respect the salesmen, cheats and lairs - we empower them.

Both parties do this.

I expect more people to watch Jay Leno than Nightline. But I DO NOT expect people to justify why "not the brightest bulb" is the most powerful man in the free world. That's horrifying.

Equally horrifying is the notion that it's wrong if 'my party didn't think it up'. This is one of the reasons I would be embarrassed to be a member of a political party in this day and age. They care more about preservation of their parties than our nation - and they prove it every day, issue by issue.

The politics of destruction will always come back to haunt those whom wield such hatred.

Conservatives who chased after Clinton for anything they could find regardless of the facts - some of which turned out to be true and some clearly false - these people should expect the same today from the liberals. And they're getting it.

Both parties are wrong, and anyone who subscribes to or even condones 'my way or the highway' party politics is dead wrong as well.

Honestly, I think they should be embarrassed.

Embarrassed.

Both parties have excellent ideas, but they undermine their best efforts through sheer radicalism and childishness.

...And like I always say, these lessons directly apply to radio.

How often do we see 'not the brightest bulb' programmers fail yet remain employed?

How often do we see a failed station or format remain on the air?

How often do we see broadcasters slam anything that Clear Channel does, assuming they are always wrong or always evil?

How often do we see programmers deny a record airplay because it doesn't 'fit the format' [party affiliation?] yet the record would test through the roof with the station's core?

Maybe after our next national disaster party politics will change. I honestly feel polarization makes it easier for that disaster to happen as we fight each other instead of Al Qaeda.

Maybe after terrestrial broadcasting gets hit by a disaster of its own making we will see change as well. As we push talent off the airwaves and dumb down our product, we make it easier for other forms of entertainment to become our disaster.