Politics as Religion and as Entertainment

If you don't know, it doesn't matter if I put in his name. If you do, there is no need. But this is John Diefenbaker.

Perhaps—and this is no new insight—one major aspect of the current breakdown in civil discourse is that so many people have, once losing their religion, put politics in its place.

I otherwise just don’t get at all the antipathy towards Trump. Including, of course, from some “never Trumpers” on the right. I don’t get the antipathy I see now in Canada towards Doug Ford, or, as lefties now like to call him, “Thug Ford.” For, apparently, keeping his basic election promise from just a year ago in the most timid of ways, by trying to modestly reduce the growth in government expenditures.

I love to follow politics, but to me it has always been a spectator sport. The reality is that nothing very important can be accomplished through electoral politics, any more than it is accomplished through the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s in the nature of the beast: whoever is in power is just reading the opinion polls and trying to follow the general consensus. Otherwise they lose office.

Any desired change can therefore come only by changing that general consensus. Which is not done by politicians, but by writers and artists—and nowadays, YouTubers and bloggers. So long as discourse is not shut down by restrictions on freedom of speech—which is what is actually happening now. That is where the critical battle is underway. Democratic politics is just a useful check on governments that are incompetent or corrupt. As they all tend to become over time.

Same comment applies as above. But this is Eddie Shack

I enjoy Trump immensely, just as I enjoyed Diefenbaker in his day; and for the same reasons. They are entertainers, fun to watch. Like Eddie Shack. Trump apparently actually instructed his staff, during the transition, that they were to treat each day as if it were a new episode in a reality TV show. He knows exactly what his job is, and he is great at it.

Duterte is another skilled entertainer. This week he declared war on Canada. Of course, it is all for show. But he keeps it a show worth watching to see what might happen next.