Local Politics, News Coverage, and Capitalism - Politics That Sell

On September 14, 2010, the State of Tennessee held a debate in Cookeville between the two candidates for Governor, Bill Haslam and Mike McWherter.

I wonder which appalls me more, the actual debate or its news coverage?

Let's start with the political debate. We have reduced political debate to 5-10 categories around which politicians usually dance and parade or from which they divert to jab their opponents' political integrity.

Haslam and McWherter dribbled about the same tired topics: education, religion, and health care.

Fundamentally, the structure of this system endorses the status quo because categories over which politicians fight control and restrict political possibilities. Debating political issues isolates each topic from other realms of political concern and neglects the intricate interrelation of political categories.

For example, we hardly consider publicly that high health care prices encourage abortion. Or we do not consider that broadband encourages Internet users to buy from websites, name from large company websites, and discourages shopping locally. Politicians largely argue their positions in terms of dollar signs and not for the political well-being of the commonwealth.

Do Not Let Politics and the News Get You Down

Every day we watch the news on television or read a newspaper. Sometimes we leave the radio on so that we have a bit of company and know what is going on in the world. But the tendency for these programmes is to tell us all the bad news and none of the good. Occasionally they might throw in a good news story for good measure, but the most important thing for the media is to attract viewers, readers, listeners, and sad to say, bad news attracts an audience more than good.

So it is easy to begin to feel down whenever we hear that the financial problems of the economy have not gone away, that unemployment is up, that there are spending cuts on the way, and that war is brewing in some far off land. Or perhaps there has been a natural disaster somewhere and people are in trouble, or a murder, or an air crash. Guaranteed at any given moment of the day something awful will be happening somewhere, and the efficiency of our news services today means that we will hear about it almost instantly. But if there is nothing we can do to help, the important thing is not to let it get to us.

Bad news can spoil your day. If you hadn't have turned the telly on at that moment you wouldn't have known about it. But the fact is that the world has always been the same and nothing has changed. There will always be evil, there will always be accidents, and there will always be politicians wondering what to do with the ailing economy. There´s no point worrying about any of it. By all means stay informed, but also try and stay detached. Concentrate on your immediate environment and if you feel safe there you have nothing to worry about.

It is important, especially when you get to a certain age, to keep your peace. By concentrating on all the good things going on around you and ignoring the bad, you will feel much better in yourself and be more optimistic about the future. There is no sense in worrying about things you cannot change. On these occasions, when you feel depressed by circumstances that you have read about or seen on the news, read the Bible or say a prayer. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." As long as we stay true to.