What's Wrong With Politics

The following is an excerpt from a conversation that Craig Ferguson had with journalist Carl Bernstein on The Late Late Show. I think it beautifully sums up what's wrong with politics today.

CRAIG: I have this idea that it used to be you were allowed to disagree with people. And you would disagree with them - I disagree with you, you disagree with me, we argue about it, everybody raise their hand, who gets the majority, that's what it is, we move on. Now, if I disagree with you or you disagree with me, I say, "You're stupid. You're stupid for disagreeing with me..."

CARL: Worse. That's mild for what's being said right now.

CRAIG: It's like, "You're a stupid traitor, because you disagree with me."

CARL: There is an ugliness in our politics, again, that has increased over the last forty years, that has resulted in a kind of ideological gridlock, in which one side doesn't recognize the legitimacy of the other's arguments, or doesn't really listen to them. And again, the national interest is the last interest that gets served. So we're in a period where there's got to be some reform. The question is whether or not a president of the United States can go to the country and say, "Look at this institution, look how it's performing, the Congress of the United States." It's not an accident that Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain all wanted to get the hell out of that place and run for president.

...

CRAIG: I really think that you're right. There's an insult impetus involved in this. Everybody's trying to make everybody else look like a fool just because they have opposing opinions.

CARL: I think it's more than making the other side look foolish. I think it has to do with contempt - contempt for the other side's ideas, contempt for the legitimacy of the other side.

CRAIG: I take it further than that. I think it's contempt for the people of the United States and their wishes. What happens is that the wishes of the politicians are put ahead... the ambitions of the politicians are put ahead - not in every case but in many cases - are put ahead of the constituents of the politicians who elected them in the first place.

The entire conversation can be seen on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiebKJhpPZ0