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Jewish World Review/ Jan. 26, 1999/ 9 Shevat, 5759
Linda Chavez
(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) IF RATINGS ARE ANY INDICATION, the American public cares far more about
what happens to John Elway than Bill Clinton this week.
An estimated 45
million people will tune in to watch the Denver Broncos' quarterback as his
team faces the Atlanta Falcons in the 33th annual Super Bowl on Sunday. Yet
barely 10 million Americans watched the president's impeachment trial as it
was broadcast live last week, according to most estimates. Have Americans
lost all sense of proportion?
Sure, I know there's plenty of drama in this Super Bowl match. This is
Atlanta's first Super Bowl and Elway's last game. Then there's the purported
rivalry between Elway, arguably the best quarterback in football history,
and Atlanta coach Dan Reeves, who once coached the Broncos until he was
forced out in a feud with Elway.
Yet millions of Americans will be
glued to their sets, following every play as if their lives depended on it.
Meanwhile, most Americans seem utterly uninterested in the drama that has
unfolded in the U.S. Senate the last two weeks --- a once-in-a-century event
that could determine the course of politics for years to come. The
conventional explanation for the country's apathy is that people are
generally pleased with the economy and don't want to upset the apple cart.
But that's no excuse.
You'd think that if most Americans truly believed that the president was
innocent of the charges they would be incensed that he's been impeached and
forced to stand trial, the first elected president in history to face such
ignominy. Why, if that were the case, there ought to be protest marches in
every city. But instead, the public seems more bored than angry.
Besides, according to the polls, most Americans believe the president is
pretty much guilty as charged. They think the president lied under oath and
encouraged others to do so as well, they just don't seem to believe the
president's behavior matters all that much. The public appears to hold
politicians in such low regard they don't expect them to obey normal
standards of decency and lawfulness anyway. A liar as chief executive? So
what else is new, they seem to be saying.
The electorate's ennui turns the proceedings on Capitol Hill into a
charade. For all the high-flown rhetoric about the Constitution from members
of Congress on both sides of the political aisle, our democracy is not
functioning as it was intended so long as Americans aren't paying attention
to the most significant political event in their lifetimes. Voters and
members of Congress alike seem more concerned with getting the proceedings
over with quickly than they do in getting to the truth.
Certainly the Founders of this nation could never have imagined an
electorate so utterly detached from the democratic process. Barely 36
percent of eligible voters bothered to vote in last year's congressional
election, and the number who participate has declined steadily over the
years.
President Clinton claimed in his State of the Union speech last week that
he was keeping alive what President George Washington referred to in his
first inaugural address as "the sacred fire of liberty." But, as Washington
scholar Matthew Spalding reminded readers of National Review, President
Clinton failed to note that the father of our country also said in the very
same speech from which he quoted: "the foundations of our national policy
will be laid in the pure and immutable principle of private morality."
Not much solace for either Clinton or the American public there. But then
the John Elways of American life have long ago replaced heroes like George
Washington. In our democracy, the electorate gets the leaders it deserves.
Maybe Americans don't want to follow impeachment too closely because they
realize the impeachment process is holding up a mirror that they would
rather not look
When sports are
truly a diversion
But no matter how great the hype, this is after all only a football game ---
albeit a championship. Its outcome won't having any lasting effect on anyone
beyond the teams' players and owners.
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9/16/98: Time for a new Amendment!
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2/18/98: Casey at the Mat
2/11/98: The legal profession's Final Solution
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