The Death of Eloquence
How modern political discourse has devolved into recycled propaganda, schoolyard trash talk, and unhinged lunacy
Once upon a time, in a vanished America of yesteryear, there was such a thing as statesmanship. There was such a thing as oration. There was such a thing as holding lofty ideals and employing equally lofty words to express them. In other words, there was such a thing as eloquence.
Present and future historians will likely debate the origins of its decline for many years to come, but as one whose entire life has been lived in the shadow of its demise, witnessing in real time the coarsening and dumbing-down of public discourse, it seems to me that it began in earnest with the advent of twenty-four hour cable news. That’s when things really started descending toward the point of hospice care. The rise of social media has merely been the final, wilted rose tossed upon the casket.
But regardless of its ultimate or proximate cause, the results are hard to dispute. Compared to nearly any previous period of American history, present-day political dialogue is an embarrassing mockery of childish, inarticulate caveman-speak paired with an unmatched level of viciousness.
As a case in point, consider the following passage from the farewell address of…
