The Impact of Immediately Available News

This truly is the information age. It seems contradictory that newspaper subscriptions are rapidly declining. This is not because the daily bulletins no longer provide valuable news information, but because the news is already widely known by the time the newspapers are printed and distributed. The availability of the internet, portable computers, cell phones, digital cameras and especially personal digital devices, make the dissemination of news nearly instantaneous. Newspapers are just not current enough.

But that is not my main point. The question I ask is, “how do our leaders make decisions in such an environment?” In the past, decision makers were able to ponder their positions and gauge the potential reaction of the public to unfolding events over a period of time; even attempting to mold this reaction a bit. More recently, astute politicians began to use opinion polls to help manage their philosophies. Nowadays every event is met with millions of personal opinions instantly. Bloggers, u-tubers, and Instant Messengers are flying everywhere. Innumerable fragments of knowledge do not constitute a philosophy for living one’s life, managing a business, or running a country. It’s difficult to determine fact from fiction. Long term considerations give way to emotions and first impressions. To respond to such a flurry of information is impossible, but not to react may be seen as insensitive or uninformed.

Adding to the difficulty in sustaining a long-term decision making perspective is how social programs are been labeled, in contrast with the actions actually necessary to achieve them. Who could oppose “Fair Housing”, “Americans with Disabilities”, “Drug Prevention” or “National Defense” legislation? Yet when the actions required to accomplish the stated goals are revealed, they may be far more onerous than voters are aware. This is not to mention the modifications, amendments and stipulations attached to the original documents.

So are we doomed? Perhaps not. If we can use the power of prayer, our personal intellect, as well as our hearts, we can elect wise leaders based on their character, not the flashiness of their campaign themes. We can then trust them to honestly lead us down the path to long term wellbeing.