The Elevator Pitch

In an exceptional and thought-provoking article on the future of the United States in the January/February issue of the Atlantic, James Fallows entreated our political leaders to think about policy as if when we wake up tomorrow, it is seventy-five years in the future. This is, it scarcely needs to be explained, to guard against the tendency of politicians these days to make policy decisions in terms of a single electoral cycle. Just as businesses now measure success and value by the quarter, our leaders are only thinking as far out as the next election or, more worryingly, the next morning's headlines.

Compounding the problem, news outlets provide 24-hour coverage and thus have a lot more column inches and airtime to fill. This means they are more inclined to provide minute-by-minute updates on issues whose true movement along the path to resolution is more akin to an oil tanker than a formula one race car. The result is a perception that inadequate progress is being made.

Whilst this is a jab at both our leaders and our news media, it could also be read as just as harsh an indictment of the electorate. Underlying all this short-term operating is the short-term nature of our collective attention span and an unwillingness to think beyond the immediate. If there is a problem, it needs to be fixed and fixed right away. Our leaders are then forced to act to satisfy this need and when results aren't instantly forthcoming, frustration and public outcry quickly follow.

The hallmark of the 21st century is instant gratification and is what we as citizens have come to expect; increasingly our lives are lived on-demand and our thinking is trending in the same direction. Most problems that confront the world today, however, cannot be solved in the short-term. They are extremely complex and progress towards solutions is exceptionally fragile. It is incumbent upon us as voters to understand this and adjust our expectations. A writer far better than I once wrote that all politics is local, which is true, but that does not reduce the complexity.

Going by recent statistics, we are working our way steadily (but slowly, gulp!) out of the most serious economic slowdown since the Great Depression, and it is worth remembering that it took more than 10 years for the country to recover in the aftermath of that calamity. The expectation today is that we should already be back on top but this is simply unrealistic and contributes to additional anxiety. Ignoring the realities of our political system does little else than create more stress that none of us need.