Civic Discourse, Campaign Finance Reform, and the Virtues of Moderation

Abstract

Effective democratic governance depends upon an informed and engaged electorate. Yet, despite the burgeoning opportunities for public discourse created by new technological developments in the form of cable television and the internet, discussion of public issues seems increasingly superficial, imitative, and inadequate to the needs of an informed polity. Among the major news information providers, the line between news and entertainment seems to have blurred significantly. News reporting seems more than ever to focus upon celebrity and personality rather than upon the difficult and nuanced public policy choices that are presented by an increasingly complex and rapidly changing society. News reporters and political commentators seem much more comfortable discussing the character and the style of political leaders than they do addressing the substantive policy positions advanced by those leaders. After all, thoughtful discussion of economic policies or foreign relations or social legislation requires some passing familiarity with political and social facts, with historical understandings, and, on occasion, with legal principles. Such issues can, at times, be quite complex. But one need not know very much to have an opinion on matters of character and personality. One need not know much, for example, to feel comfortable offering an assessment of President Clinton's moral integrity or of the public persona projected by Vice President Gore.