'The American People'?

I live in a relatively small community in a very small city. It would be hard to find more variations among education, opinions, backgrounds, interests, and abilities in any geographical area. Every day during campaign seasons, and far too often for my taste on general days, there are too many mentions of 'The American people.'

How in the world can anyone be so foolish as even to attempt to make some kind of monolithic entity out of that collective noun? Not only are nationalities and ethnicities and socio/economic circumstances that number in the hundreds involved here ... not to mention languages and aspirations ... the very total of the national population should suggest how foolish is a notion of 'The American people.'

For most of my life I have been, to put it politely, apolitical. No matter what rhetoric we’re exposed to, however cleverly couched and insidiously targeted, the gaps in the logic or in possibilities are big enough for either an ass or an elephant to walk through without brushing an ear. Even the 'town meeting' style convocations broadcast on Public Television indicate that not every member of the flock is a sheep. I give thanks for the opinions expressed at venues like that. But what are the chances the majority (who don’t bother to think it out) will make an erroneous or befuddled decision in a voting booth?

Wouldn’t it be great if some leader could arise who called upon reason and even common sense as well as honesty to inform the electorate? Of course, in current practice, no one without almost unlimited financial means can even hope to attract attention. When money determines who can even afford to appear on TV or radio, or be heard in local meetings, it seems increasingly unlikely the best agenda will ever have a chance. Add to that the convention that the self-proclaimed parties must never ever agree on anything, and it’s hard to bother to get to a polling place.

You and your neighbor and your brother and aunt, and me too, are members of that collective. We’re American and we’re people, but it isn’t a syllogism that follows that all Americans can be lumped into one collective noun. Added to the inherent differences are those of socio-economic status, level of education, geographical accident, special circumstances like physical handicaps or traumatic backgrounds, to name a few.

I submit that there isn’t a politician of any stature anywhere who knows what 'The American People' want or need. Different groups of different people in different places need and want different things — with the possible exception of a few abstractions: Bill of Rights freedoms; satisfactory human relationships; satisfying work; hope for their children. The rub comes when some hubristic individual claims to know the single way to achieve those … as well as the physical ones like food, shelter, and health care.

It’s no easy task to find out what we need to know to make informed and reasonable choices among those offered. Now that there is virtually no limit to what can be spent to achieve victory in an election, it’s beginning to look as if the only criterion (if we’re honest with ourselves) will be wealth. Winner take all. Whatever the results are, 'The American People' cannot expect to be satisfied, even if some millions feel they've won.

Illustration from Wikipedia: A multi-axis political spectrum chart; a variant of the Nolan chart

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'The American People'?

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