In the current political climate we are dominated by relativism. What I will show is how the "great media paradox" does not allow any true authority on a particular issue, and nothing gets done.
One of the key problems with our political system is what I call The Great Media Paradox. What I mean by this is really right out in front of everyone's face. First I accept (and most people who understand politics would probably accept) that the national media is really the Fourth Estate, because without reporting relevant facts about government the a democratic process would probably not be possible. During elections, for example,information about a candidate is important in order for the average person to make an informed decision. The Media acts as the "forth branch" of government in the US.
So there is little doubt the importance of the media to the process of politics, but now there needs to be consideration of how media presents perspectives on certain issues. For political issues there is usually a conservative view and a liberal view, or something that resembles this. I think of shows like the ED show, were he always has one "progressive" and one "conservative" debating each other on particular news stories for that day. On Fox news there are debates like this all day, but usually the conservative "wins" (or ties) because by the end the argument is so muddy that no sense can be made of the facts at all. And this is were the paradox starts to show itself.
The paradox that exists in the media is the never ending relativism that does not allow for crucial facts to be agreed upon, thus no REAL policy can be agreed to. The media recognizes two main perspectives (right and left) puts the "talking heads" into either catergory, and never gives proper authority to one side based on their arguments or knowledge. Rather the media just makes it a "perspective", in which everyone has a perspective, and both left and right have a justified opinion on an issue, no matter how factually wrong they are. Every issue is interpreted as someone's opinion, and all opinions are justified.
But were does this paradox lead us? To where this country is now. With little to no legislation being passed, no real change, and no hope that there will be any progress because no one can recognize what the facts are.
If we want to change the political system, we need to agree on facts.