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June 24, 2006

Enemy of Democracy

Richard Morin needs to lighten up a bit. He's quite concerned that Jon Stewart is undermining democracy through his subversive use of political humor. Apparently people who watch Stewart's The Daily Show have a tendency to become cynical about the political process, and they may be less likely to vote. Cue Kurtz muttering, "The horror...the horror."

Forgive me if I can't get overly excited over the prospect of college students who the study admits don't really follow the issues to begin with not voting. Beyond that, voting is highly illogical behavior. Given the opportunity costs of voting compared to the chances of your vote actually affecting the outcome, the strictly rational person would instead choose to accomplish something of a bit more import; say, the laundry. So if Stewart is turning people off voting, it's arguable he's helping the U.S. by increasing overall productivity on election day.

I think Mr. Morin has also fallen prey to the chicken and egg fallacy. If people are becoming cynical about politics after watching The Daily Show, perhaps that's because cynicism is the proper response to a government that runs as ours does, where Congressmen keep $90,000 in cash in their freezer and sell their votes to the highest bidder, and where the only thing that can rouse Congressional leaders to speak out against executive overreach is when they are threatened by legal action. If you're not a little cynical about the system by now, I assume you'll soon be the subject of a movie starring Hayley Mills.

Do I think people shouldn't get involved in trying to make the government better? I think my maintenance of this blog answers that question. But if Morin wants someone to blame for people losing interest in democracy, I think he needs to look elsewhere than Stewart for answers.