The Magnetic Pendulum

I hate politics. Generally, when people say that it is because they do not want to espouse a particular set of opinions that may upset the person they are saying it to. In this instance, however, I am saying it because I am disgusted by the way politics has wormed its way into most aspects of everyday life. As a kid, I actually aspired to be a politician. Civics and government were and are fascinating to me and the thought of public service in the name of furthering the great experiment that is the American Republic, seemed like a laudable goal. Obviously, the idea of engaging in politics now is abhorrent to me and it is mostly because of the magnetic pendulum.

Bear with me. Although I hate politics, I love a good metaphor. As I was perusing the news of the day and trying desperately to avoid any mention of politics, I came across an article about local police arresting a vandal that shattered a few car windows. The comments section of the article (I know, why am I reading a comment section on the internet.) quickly devolved into armed camps of pro and anti-police sentiment, Trump bashing, Black Lives Matter supporters and detractors and, conspiracy theorists. Keep in mind that this is a kid, who is not African-American, breaking windows and getting caught. There is nothing here to get worked up about, unless you happen to own a car with a broken window or are this kid’s parents.

This quick trip through ignorance gave me an idea about a way of looking at the new, super polarized American political dynamic. I give you the Magnetic Pendulum.

OK, I did not invent this idea, however I am taking credit for applying it to American politics. The actual Idea is from an experiment done in the 1960s involving an oscillator and a magnet suspended from a pendulum. (Here is a diagram that I got from Kidzsearch, which is about at my level of scientific knowledge).

The idea is that the pendulum will swing further from side to side depending on the amount of energy that the electromagnet gets. I know, what does this have to do with politics? Well Imagine the pendulum is the state of American politics and the electromagnet at the bottom of the platform is rhetoric, social media, regular media, blogs (like this one) talk shows and political caterwauling. The more energy (Extreme political views and rhetoric) that you use to power the electromagnet, the further the pendulum swings to the left or right.

So what causes the pendulum to swing? Obviously the forces of gravity and electromagnetism cannot be blamed for political misunderstandings and extremism, so we have to look at another reason why the pendulum goes from left to right. I do not believe that there is that much difference between what the average American liberal and conservative feels is best for the country. I believe both sides want to do what is best for their fellow man (With some exceptions of course, I am from Illinois, I know a lot about corruption.)

If you think about it, the American Left looks out for the people as a whole and tries to do what is best for the body of the populace, The American right defends the liberties of the individual and defends them from the tyranny of the masses and the government. These two opposing viewpoints should be able to get along even if they disagree on some issues. The average person has both of these viewpoints in their personal, political spectrum.

So what the heck is happening?

I believe this problem exists because people do not like to be told they are wrong. I like to call this the “Oh yeah, I’ll show you principle.” The more that political discussion breaks down into labelling and name calling, the more power we give to the pendulum.

Here is a breakdown of a standard internet political discussion…

Liberal: “We should provide a social service to help people do something”

Conservative: “We shouldn’t make people spend their money to solve other people’s problems.”

Liberal: ”You are Hitler”

Conservative: “Hitler was a socialist, so you are Hitler.”

Liberal: “9/11 was an inside job!”

Conservative: “Obama is a Muslim!”

Ok, so that is hyperbole meant to be ridiculous, but it illustrates a point. The internet allows people to anonymously spout garbage that shame would never let them say in public. However, the media and to a lesser degree politicians, have discovered that frothing at the mouth allows you to attract more hits to your website and fuels your popularity, which in turn, allows you to get better ratings and stay or win elections.

When was the last time we saw this headline?

“Senator offers measured and reasonable solution to a problem after discussing it with the people involved and his opponents.” 

I am sure this still happens, but that headline or news crawl isn’t going to sell adds to beer and pharmaceutical companies. Also that Senator isn’t going to attract hits to his or her website or Super Pac money to his coffers. He or she isn’t “energizing his base”, he or she is just trying to solve a problem, which is their job. That Senator is probably going to do two things, Give up on their idea of solving problems and give in to demagoguery to stay in power. They will justify this backsliding by saying “I have to stay in power to do good things for my constituents,” which of course becomes harder and harder to do as they power the pendulum.

The more elected officials participate in this name calling and rhetoric, the more they disenfranchise the average voter. We then get elections being won by hard liners and people who are good at whipping up anti-the-other-guy sentiment.

This problem also effects political parties themselves. The parties get more and more extreme and the force the average voter to either stop identifying with a party or conform to the new dynamic of hatred and name-calling.

So what can we do? I believe, as a voter, we need to not look for the loudest guy in the room but rather the person with the best idea. We can push for term limits and campaign finance reforms and we can take a second to think about what the other person is saying before we condemn them and shout at them to tell them how right we are.

Then again, I hate politics so what do I know?