The biggest affront to the intelligence, dignity, and the well-being of us as citizens in the last eight years has been the way in which we've all swallowed one particular Rovian machination bait-hook-and-sinker without even blinking.
What I'm talking about is the blatant bifurcation of the citizenry based on their political, religious, and social views. Yes, in the past of this country have been periods of the passionate "Democrat" and the passionate "Republican," if you will. Today, however, the words "left" and "right" are used as a demeaning insult. Which one is meant to be insulting depends on what you read. There are two common groups which see enemies, villany, and conspiracy theories coming only from "the other" to their opposite. Those two groups are your political operatives, and your schizophrenics.
Take any Drudgereport news link with a comment blog. Read down, and feel free to CTRL-F for "right wingnuts," "righties," "repugs," "libs," "lefty," or "you liberals." Every one of those posts, irrespective of which side it portrays as the antagonist, makes me puke a little.
The silent majority, which is happy somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum, has not been staying in the middle and impartial to political hackery. This impartial majority, whom we depend on to make rational and critical votes--the "REAL" votes--is shrinking. This is because it's very easy and convenient to fall into the trap. As humans, we are very comfortable taking sides. We are very comfortable associating ourselves with a group.
The more you enhance the contrast between the perceived "left" and the perceived "right" in politics, media, and even entertainment, the more people will be compelled to choose a side and stick with it despite not being a complete and honest convert to the viewpoints they vote for and speak about.
This absolutely human trait plays right into the deliciously successful plan for winning the last two elections:
1. Don't bother trying to win-over all of the voters in every district.*
2. Give your political/religious "base" a lathery rub-down and plenty of lip-service, so that they are a solid vote you can count on.
3. Scare, intimidate, and hoodwink the shit out of the swing voters, and pray that you barely scrape by in enough states to win the electoral college votes.
4. Profit.
*You will still profit if you don't get the popular vote. Heckuva job!
This right vs. left bullshit discussion makes me personally ill, and it's killing America. I feel competent enough to determine on my own whether the source is biased. The moment you elect yourself to tell others that the bias is blatantly evident, you perpetuate the entire cycle of making me puke a little. Please, kindly, stop it.