Ted Cruz and the Lost Art of Political Discussion

By Amelia Sims

Yesterday the internet erupted with thoughts on Ted Cruz’s 21 hour speech outlining Obamacare’s threats to American life and politics. Whatever the effects of Cruz’s 21 hour speech, his words speak to the common American citizen, frustrated with the insular, self absorbed world of Washington elitism. Cruz talks plainly and addresses the politically disenfranchised American public by appealing to common sense and self evident truth with facts, letters, and personal stories about the perils of Obamacare.

Sadly, Washington corruption and power play has pushed “politics” in a corner people disdain as reserved only for the political elites and those feisty, inappropriate individuals who dare to bring up healthcare, religion, or the Syrian debacle in everyday conversation. Alexis de Tocqueville, however, observed a much different American political life when he ventured to America in the early 1800s. Impressed and surprised by the robust civic engagement in America Tocqueville wrote, “The political associations which exist in the United States are only a single feature in the midst of the immense assemblage of associations in that country. Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations.”

So how did we get from the thriving scene of civic engagement and political discourse described in Tocqueville’s democracy in America to today where people disdain political discourse as inappropriate, ineffectual, and immoral? How did the common citizen engaged in numerous civic associations become a pawn in Washington’s political game?

Fr. James Schall, professor emeritus of Georgetown University, explains, “What is more characteristic of our recent times is that we really do not debate anything, especially the truth of anything. Why? Ironically we do not debate for fear that something actually might be true and therefor put demands on our minds, polities, and morals to change our ways. Thus we only tolerate things…A debate that presupposes that truth exists and is worthy of pursuit is itself a dangerous proposition, particularly politically…Our “debates” are power struggles and number countings, not attentive and logical examinations of evidence to arrive at true conclusions and reject untrue propositions.”

When people’s sole focus is “spin” and “playing the game”, they often trip themselves up. Cruz broke through a cozy media/Washington coverage of issues by speaking plainly in common sense. The reaction may be messy. Actual debate and real civic engagement often is, but as Pope Francis says of politics, “We can’t play the role of Pontius Pilate and wash our hands of it.”