Opinion

Political Entertainers Bridge Government-Society Disconnect

(YouTube/screen shot)

Erich Reimer Contributor
Font Size:

The recent public controversies regarding Bill O’Reilly, Tomi Lahren, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Milo Yiannopoulos, and others have led many to question not only the specific individuals involved but also whether the entire political entertainment culture is harmful to political conservatism and the country’s discourse.

National Review writer David French describes this in a recent article as a “toxic culture of conservative celebrity, where the public elevated personalities more because of their pugnaciousness than anything else.” French criticizes political entertainers for putting wit and character above truth-seeking and balanced analysis.

While the sentiments of French and others are not necessarily wrong, as undoubtedly political commentators and entertainers have some duty to the public to act appropriately with their megaphones, he nonetheless paints a highly negative picture of political entertainers while ignoring the positive and necessary role they play in American civic life.

Political entertainers like Bill O’Reilly have been criticized over the years, and more recently commentators like Tomi Lahren the same, for being agenda-driven, loud, and not engaging in the long intellectual proofs that intellectual conservative discourse has built itself on.

However political entertainers bring political commentary and national politics to the American people in a way that no other medium is able to. The Heritage Foundation’s online lectures will never bring as many interested viewers as the 4-million a night Bill O’Reilly brought on his show, or the millions of viewers per Facebook video that Tomi Lahren did and recently began doing again.

On the other side of the aisle, political entertainers on the left are now the lifeblood of the liberalism in the United States, and we can see how liberalism has dramatically grown in its public outreach thanks to these personalities. Personalities like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, Bill Maher, and countless others, make the dry and weary issues of politics interesting and fun for ordinary Americans who may otherwise have little interest and input. Few would argue they are journalists, balanced, or impartial, but that this is not their role.

The modern political entertainer fulfills a necessary void that has recently gone missing from American political life. In Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community”, he describes how in recent years American communities have become less focused around community associations and mass gatherings, such as churches, ethnic, and recreational groups, and moved towards an individualized, or at most friend and family based life.

Mass political entertainment and consciousness is a necessary pillar of the American republic. The late 1800’s in the U.S. were a time of political parades, regular mass voter turnout in the high 70% to low 80% mark, and deep public participation in the debates and issues of the day. Throughout the 1900’s the American public remained healthily connected to their representatives and government on all levels.

Much of deep connection between government and the people was done through melding political and social life together. Political parades marched down city streets, political machines connected neighborhoods together, cafes brimmed with discussion, and community associations flourished with activity and membership. This public participation and input created accountability and appropriate representation from what otherwise might be an increasingly distant and oligarchical government.

With the increasing decline of American communities, so too has mass public participation and consciousness. However political commentators have filled this role by taking far-off national issues and bringing them to people’s homes on their computers, radios, and televisions. Furthermore, political entertainers do it in a way where people beyond those with an advanced degree are able to understand and respond to these issues.

Intellectual conservative discourse remains a necessary component of discourse on the right in our modern-day. However it is only one of many necessary voices, as otherwise Republicans will find that the population at-large has lost both interest and understanding in the issues of the day, to the detriment of conservatism and American democracy as a whole.

Democrats and the left continue to enjoy a vibrant and healthy political entertainment culture. This culture has succeeded in mobilizing and bringing consciousness to millions of Americans, especially Millennials, who might otherwise be apathetic and disinterested. Conservative should not be so quick to abandon such a powerful mobilizing tactic, and furthermore a modernized tradition as old as the American republic itself.

American republicanism was built on public accountability and participation. Political entertainers of both sides perform a necessary function in making that possible in our modern internet-based and increasingly disconnected American social fabric.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel