Larry D. Lauer

During this pre-inauguration period I have become consumed with concerns about our American political system. What just happened to us?  Could this be our future?

In chess you simply win or lose. Strategy is a matter of anticipating, blocking, and responding with another move. You win purely by out-maneuvering your opponent. Is this what politics has become… game of chess? A horserace?

I wish I could assume that everyone who goes into politics does so because they have a set of sincere beliefs and thoughtful solutions for social problems. I would like to know they understood that clarity of thinking about content, consistency of message, ability to connect with a wide variety of audiences, basic American values, and commitment to truth, all are required. I’d like to know that they understood their biggest challenge will be to communicate their bold ideas more effectively than their opponent. And I wish the entire political system was structured so that winning would only happen if and when they convinced enough people to agree with them.

But alas, I am afraid the Chess game/horserace approach is what we had in this presidential election.  Political strategy was primarily calculating and anticipating the moves of opponents. Keeping adversaries off-balance and centering all attention on the candidates’ personalities was everything.  Doing this with lies and false news became acceptable because it all began to sound true when repeated often enough. Simply naming topics dramatically, making outrageous claims, launching personal attacks, engaging in bullying, and promising to fix everything intensified the drama and resulted in celebrity. Once the campaign rally as entertainment got rolling, too much detail interrupted that drama. Afterwards, when handlers and staffers explained outlandish and unclear remarks by using situation blurring weasel words, conditions reset themselves for the next big show.

Sadly, this is how our presidential campaign degenerated. Can we even bear to go through it again?