BROADCASTS.com

b'

There are lots of reasons to be cynical about the crisis in our politics. The trouble is, one of the biggest causes of that crisis is cynicism itself.

We should always be skeptical about politics. People aren\\u2019t angels, as James Madison reminded us.

But skepticism involves checking to find out what\\u2019s really going on, good or bad. Cynicism is just assuming that it\\u2019s all bad.

This is often mistaken for savviness, which lends cool-kids credibility to claims like \\u201call politicians are crooks,\\u201d or \\u201cthere\\u2019s no difference between the parties,\\u201d or \\u201cgovernment never works.\\u201d Except none of those claims actually stands up to skeptical scrutiny.

Political journalists reinforce cynicism when they cover politics, day by day, as a dirty game in which all the players are more or less the same: self-interested schemers. NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen blames it on what he calls \\u201cthe cult of savvy,\\u201d which rewards reporters for the cynicism of their coverage, when what we need from them is skepticism.

Skepticism is healthy, and necessary for democracy. You can\\u2019t say either about cynicism.

If we automatically accept cynical beliefs as true, we make them ever more likely to become true. People who work on behalf of hope gradually withdraw from the arena, leaving it to people all too happy to encourage despair. And those are people who do in fact have very bad motivations.

In this way cynicism reinforces itself and becomes a political death spiral.

Democracy can\\u2019t run on despair. But authoritarianism depends on it. This is why authoritarians like Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump don\\u2019t care that you know they\\u2019re lying \\u2014 they want you to know they\\u2019re lying. It serves their interests if you conclude that everyone is a liar, and lose hope.\\xa0 Then your only safe choice is to back the most powerful liar.

All this is why I wanted to talk this time about what has become a deeply unfashionable topic: morality in politics. Yes, it does exist, and in a democracy it must exist.

And once again I talk with Kevin Lewis and Zach Friend.\\xa0

Kevin has been a communications advisor and spokesman for former President Barack Obama, the White House, the Department of Justice, both Obama campaigns, and Meta.

Zach has worked for the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, and several presidential campaigns, including both of Obama\\u2019s. He\\u2019s currently an elected Supervisor in Santa Cruz County, California.

Both have seen lots of the good and bad in politics, but neither is a cynic.

\\u2014 Spencer