It is a problem that the American people are too cynical. Cynicism is the reason negative campaign ads are so effective - no one trusts political ads unless they're negative - and the more negative they are, the more people believe them. Cynics don't bother actually studying the positions of a candidate - because they know all candidates are corrupt anyway, and all parties are the same - but of course they'll vote for anyone who's politically incorrect and promises to "throw the bastards out," because the only politician anyone trusts is a politician who pretends they're not running for office. Cynicism has made the concept of being engaged with the political process a joke to anyone who doesn't want to destroy that process.
I mean, the cynics are correct, but they're also more than a little responsible for perpetuating that system by setting the bar so low.
I think a big part of the problem is that we have a concept of cynicism at all. It's very similar to the conspiracy theorist label. There are known conspiracies. Big ones. It's not that crazy to be a conspiracy theorist. It is crazy to think that we've been visited by aliens or that the elite are reptiles. Thinking those things does make a person a conspiracy theorist. That doesn't mean that all conspiracy theories are crazy. In the same way, not all cynicism is petulant and hopeless. But when a population is trained to recognize and dismiss cynics that is frequently what they become.
>In the same way, not all cynicism is petulant and whiny.
That's true, but most of it is, and I don't think that's entirely accidental. Many cynics are cynics because society expects them to be. People mistrust the government before they really even understand what it is.
>It's just that when a population is trained to recognize and dismiss cynics that is frequently what they become.
I would argue the population has been trained to be cynical in order to disengage them from politics, lead them to expect nothing from the system, and make them more easily manipulated. It does seem evident that there is a feedback loop between the cynicism of voters and politics.
> I would argue the population has been trained to be cynical in order to disengage them from politics
I actually agree. However, I think the discussions we need to be having are ultimately cynical. We need to be able to tolerate it. The opinion you've just expressed is terribly cynical and that doesn't undermine it's legitimacy.
