Jay Rosen, in a fine piece on what’s wrong with politics, quotes Vaclav Havel:

Many of the traditional mechanisms of democracy created and developed and conserved in the modern era are so linked to the cult of objectivity and statistical average that they can annul human individuality. We can see this in political language, where cliche often squeezes out a personal tone. And when a personal tone does crop up, it is usually calculated, not an outburst of personal authenticity.

Sooner or later politics will be faced with the task of finding a new, postmodern face. A politician must become a person again, someone who trusts not only a scientific representation and analysis of the world, but also the world itself. He must believe not only in sociological statistics, but also in real people. He must trust not only an objective interpretation of reality, but also his own soul; not only an adopted ideology, but also his own thoughts; not only the summary reports he receives each morning, but also his own feeling.

And here’s a snipped from Jay:

It cannot be the case that one-to-many man is destined to run campaigns forever. (And when the fall comes it will be swift and total, like the collapse of the system that threw Havel in jail.)

It cannot be the case that insulting the citizen’s intelligence (“Joe-vember to Remember”) is the smart way to go. (Once someone demonstrates that definitively, we will marvel at how long the premise held.)

But don’t be satisfied with snippets! It’s a damn fine piece.

Rick Klau, well-known Deaniac, has a report that’s partisan yet open-minded and observant, about the Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner where most of the Democratic candidates showed up. (Telling detail: It took 43 buses to bring the Dean supporters in; the campaign had to get a parade permit just to let them to roll in.)

Categories: Uncategorized dw