Sound Bite Society -- take a poll

Some say this is a “sound byte” society – that intellectually we exist on dehydrated bullion cubes – no hearty soups with real vegetables and meat.

And – these critics add that because we learn from dehydrated sound bites, our thinking (and conclusions) are equally dehydrated – lacking real heartiness.

Here is a little unscientific test of that criticism. What follows are two articles. The first is a dehydrated “sound bite” of the second – about 1/3 of the words.

Kindly read the first one. Then pause – and ask yourself if it has enough meat to be persuasive – to make you agree or at least be sympathetic to the premise of the article. Then read the second one. Did it do anymore to persuade you – or is it just a waste of words and time? Did the firs do the job as good as or better than the second article? If so, maybe a “sound bite” society is needed in this time-restricted world. If it took the second article to get your agreement, then maybe we can’t count on “sound bite intelligence” to provide the correct answers.

If neither version does anything for you, then same on the writer for lousy thinking or writing or both.

Time for Statesmen? Sound Bite Version

Looking for a job these days?

A tax supported enterprise needs to create abouit200 job vacancies. These would be filled by 200 people applying for jobs in the Congress as Statesman/Philosophers to replace career politicians.

Before you hasten to apply, please consider the job specs.

First, a true Statesman must somehow get elected without any contributions from advocacy groups such as unions, businesses, lobbyists or fundraising groups that have high sounding names, but lower ethics.

GOOD LUCK with even getting nominated.

Second, you have to agree in advance to serve only two terms so that politics can’t become a career.

Is anyone still a job applicant?

Third, you will have to agree that statesmen (as opposed to politicians) don’t expect to add to their personal wealth while in office or afterward. That obviously means no jobs as lobbyist, etc.

Any statesman/officeholder who violates The Statesman Code would and should expect double or triple fines and/or prison terms as should any outsider who seeks to tempt the statesman to violate his public trust.

Hello, anyone still here???

And would YOU, as a voter really recognize a Political Statesman if you actually ever saw one?

Time for Statesmen? Full Version

July 4th, Philadelphia Pa.

Looking for a job these days?

A tax supported enterprise needs to create abouit200 job vacancies. These vacancies in the congress would be then filled by 200 people applying for jobs as Statesman versus politicians.

Before you hasten to apply, please consider the job specifications. Here they are.

First, a true Statesman must somehow get elected without any contributions from advocacy groups such as unions, businesses, lobbyists or fundraising groups that have high sounding names, but lower ethics. All your campaign funds must come from individuals and may not exceed $ 1,000 per person, which would include you and your family – no doubling up.

GOOD LUCK with even getting nominated.

Second, you have to agree in advance to serve only two terms so that politics can’t become a career (although the terms may be longer).

Third, you must swear that your every vote will be solely in the national interest regardless of how it affects you personally or the district that sent you to Washington, your temporary address where all your claimed expenses are audited, published and exposed to the public light (So long to those cute little thing on your office payroll)

Is anyone still a job applicant?

Fourth, you will have to agree that statesmen (as opposed to politicians) don’t expect to add to their personal wealth while in office or AFTERWARDS. That obviously means no jobs as lobbyist, etc.

Any statesman/officeholder who violates The Statesman Code would and should expect double or triple fines and/or prison terms as should any outsider who seeks to tempt the statesman to violate his public trust.

Hello, anyone still here???

There needs to be (somehow) enough statesmen in the house and senate, to represent an effective swing vote or a balance wheel – always, always putting the country FIRST. Hopefully the statesmen group would/should attract the attention of the bewildered and disillusioned voters (particularly the young) and become role models for children who would not otherwise be considering elected public service in ADDITION to other more lucrative careers. There is also the chance that the statesmen group in the congress could become the ‘sheriff’ of the congress.

Finally, there is a possibility that this small group of statesmen could spearhead the next evolutionary step in the natural development and modernization of the whole democratic idea and take it to a higher level. And don’t forget that the basic idea has been modernized before – lots of times and at least half the voters (women) think the changes have been OK. Two hundred years ago the only legal voters were white MALES who owned land. This modernization, in a way, might preserve the revolutionary idea that had done so much already to improve the world, but which still has much, much more to do.

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P.S. Here is a post July 4^th thought. If enough people apply and get elected as Statesmen, their names eventually might be somehow grouped by future generations with people like Mr. Jefferson, Hamilton, Thomas Paine, etc. – that bunch that fed the basic democratic idea 235 years ago.