Why can't politics inspire anymore?

I've been spending the last few weeks watching past seasons of The West Wing instead of doing something more important such as working on my thesis. I understand that I mention this show a lot, but it really is one of the best television shows still around and remains one of the few things I regularly watch.

In regards to the title, one of the strange "side effects" of watching this series is that it compels me to think about ways of contributing to the political process in this country, beyond voting and late night rants. A part of this certainly stems from my competitive nature, and politics seems to be a natural venue for this to play out.

However, politics can and should be so much more than that. Politics (or government, more precisely) should be a place where citizens come together, engage in thoughtful debate, and act in a manner which they believe is best for the country. And this is what bothers me most about the Bush administration and the current political culture in the United States.

First, you really have to wonder whether President Bush and the "(neo-)conservative" Republicans really believe that they are acting in the best interests in the country. Their constituents (or at least those that I have met) certainly believe so, but the politicians themselves have always come across as being disingenuous. A large part of this comes from the fact that contemporary politics seems focused primarily on provoking not only the opposition but the core constituency as well. Consider, for example, this insistence that America is being threatened by the scourge of "activist judges" (why these judges are necessarily liberal is an issue for another time) or that politics has been overrun by "corporate interests". Certainly, there is some truth behind these assertions, but there is also a tendency is use such issues to promote a culture of victim-hood. This feeling of victim-hood is easy enough to exploit to garner votes, but rarely will someone actually point out that the people don't have to be victims anymore, and that they can take action beyond voting for [insert name here]. Then again, if I were really in politics, I wouldn't make too much of an effort to point that out either; having people living in the belief of persecution is far too useful politically.

Second, contemporary political culture seems to have an aversion towards engaging in thoughtful debate. What passes for debate today is little more than enumerating talking points and "conventional wisdom", and more often than not, seems to degenerate into shouting matches. This distaste for debate says a great deal about our short attention spans and our inability to comprehend that few issues have an absolute right and an absolute wrong. The second part scares me far more than the first as it reflects a collective sloppiness in thinking and a unwillingness to propose and to accept the compromises inherent in most of our laws.

Anyhow, it's coming up on 1:30 am, and I have work in the morning.

Update [6:36 AM] - Another thought that came to my mind while watching The West Wing: How often has President Bush said "no, you're wrong" to his advisors? Being a "president of the people" who makes up for a lack of sophistication by having advisers is fine, but if you don't ever say "no", how useful are those advisors truly?