What does an uninterested electorate get us?

Trivia, that is the answer. Our national media excites itself with trivia. They make issues of things that are not major issues.

Cases in point: The firing of the eight US Attorneys. This has been an ongoing story now for a week. Feeding the media interest is the Congress issuing subpoena's to White House advisers. Why is this trivia? Simple, US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. This means if he wants to fire them once a month he can. He does not need a reason. The subpoena's are also interesting since the separation of powers prohibits one branch from issuing a subpoena to another. The net effect, Who cares? I'll tell you who cares. The congress and Senate know that most of the electorate knows nothing of the constitution and it is a way to lead them to believe there is something dirty at work.

Valerie Plame and Scooter Libby: The well know 'covert' agent Valerie Plame. While the Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald knew early on who the leaker was, and even that there was no underlying crime, he must have felt a need to indict someone before closing up shop. What we have is a conviction for Scooter Libby. He now faces jail time not for a leak, but misreporting his recollections. Most observers noted that the said reporters also misreported their recollections under oath, but were not indicted. So Mr. Libby was convicted of lying under oath. Remember that in the last administration we were told that was not a big deal. In Mr. Libby's case there is some question as to whether his statements were lies, or forotten. That was not the case with the former President. Guess it depends on what party is doing the lying.

Sub prime loans. Alan Reynolds give a great explanation of the current trend of reporting on this. (Here). The wild hysteria is that it is leading to another Great Depression.

Instead of getting the opinion of an economist, it makes a good story so the media goes with it.

John Stosell gives a piece that talks about how the media like scaring us. (Here).

With 24 hours of day to fill with news, things that used to have a single report life, now get talked to death. Complex issues such as economics, usually get reported as conventional wisdom. An example is tax cuts. Since the mantra in Washington is 'Tax cuts for the Rich', our media see no reason to go beyond that. Since many young people do not know the history of the huge benefits of lowering incremental tax rates, they never hear it unless they read conservative authors, or listen to talk radio. Too many people aren't interested enough to do that. An uninterested and under educated electorate.

What is the reason? I don't think it is conspiratorial. I truly believe the media operates under a template for ratings and subscriptions. They know what they believe their customers want to see and hear. Other topics will not be approached. They fear boredom so they don't go after issues that require a lot of explanation and technical jargon. They are also run by people who vacation in the Hampton's. Topics that offend them, also will not be taken on. This isn't bias it is just what they see as correct.

In the end we all suffer. We don't get good political candidates, because they simply will not put their lives on hold and possibly be destroyed for trivia. So our media will tell you everything about Brittany Spears, but will not tell you about the Social Security 'trust fund' and when it will expire. They also won't tell you that 60% of Iraqis want us there. They also won't tell you that many scientists believe Global Warming is not man made. Those would be good things to have covered in the mainstream media. Don't hold your breath!