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April 28, 2005

Not quite. But following along on the theme of the post below that, in politics, interest is more important on a day-to-day level than discourse or ideology, it's interesting to pass along this post by Ann Althouse which theorizes that the explanation for the steep decline in talk show ratings is that people are sick of talking about politics. Althouse's post is based in part upon this Washington Post article, which recounts among other bits of data that the liberal Air America affiliate in the nation's capital has ratings as low or lower than 0.1 per cent of the listening audience--literally too low to be reliably counted.

Besides, as she points out, "the debate about Social Security was mind-numbing." Indeed it is--I confess that I stopped paying attention in about 2002, after I realized that a) my generation is screwed on a generational-accounting benefits, b) my generation doesn't vote, and so c) my generation will always be screwed in any "reform" plan. (Grayhairs vote, you see.) Similarly, on the filibuster--another tiresome issue--the intensity of my position is based more on fatigue and irritation than reason (although I do have several reasons): Why should any tactic that historically has been the tool of wilfully obstructive and harmful minorities be maintained? (In Indiana politics, I would venture, the equivalent is, of course, DST.)

I realize there are debates about these issues, but frankly I care more about Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, and I don't care a twentieth as much about them as I care about the position papers of obscure Irish language revival groups ninety years ago.

Posted by Paul Musgrave at April 28, 2005 06:22 PM

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