The Resurgence of the Silent Movie

I have heard the exhortation “Shut up and sing!” hurled at celebrities with too much notoriety and not enough sense, at least in the eyes of the beholders. However, that complaint and accusation becomes futile under this current system. All political winners are forced to become celebrities. In fact, not only is today’s “yes/no” binary vote an insulting reduction of the true worth of your personality and viewpoints into a simple “dead or alive” indicator, but there really is no “no” vote about it.  You can’t vote “no” for everybody. A “yes” for anybody is taken as a round of endorsement, making matters worse.  Manipulating you into one simple behavior – pulling that lever – becomes the obsession of the media machine.  Those who won that contest by other means – sports heroes, movie actors, singers, musicians, magnates, etc. – all mistakenly believe they have also won the leadership round on the basis of their own merit.

This does not mean that celebrity necessarily disqualifies you for public office – quite the contrary, depending on your locality.  Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, because the citizens wanted some additional notoriety for their town, even if on a novelty basis.  Sonny Bono became mayor of Palm Springs, California after being heard loud and clear in the media about the frustrations of small business owners in the area.  The point is: there was at least a modicum of legitimate cause for their endorsements and the citizens had a right to choose.

However, why would we reward an ability to turn something intrinsically insincere into a display of convincing sincerity?  We ask for that in an entertainment context where reading from a script or a Teleprompter, so as to bring tears to the eyes of an audience, is met with enthusiastic applause. Wait – is that “really” what you want from your leaders in times of crisis?  That has not worked out well for us historically, and the conflation of proper qualifications and alignment with awareness of a household name has certainly led to vast shortfalls of political potential.

This abuse of privilege will not cease until a system like VotePlusPlus delivers the real alternative: align a complete voter profile from each and every one of us with the candidates who best fit the bill, and recommending the next leadership structure on that basis.  That way, fame and fortune can be more directly associated with the actual perceived skills and specialties involved, without straying onto a dangerous course.

When the going gets tough we deserve the best and brightest at the helm, continually aware of our views and interests and accountable to consider and uphold them.

That’s called “representation”.