“But the fourth factor is the one that I know the most about. Yessir. It’s the polarized media, itself a creation of the last four decades. This is where you—the ideologically driven voters who dictate the nomination process in closed primary states—go for your news and opinion, and where elected politicians do their best to stay in good stead. Gone are the days when a successful career in Washington was dependent upon longevity in office, and the corresponding seniority that brought prestigious assignments. Today, the quickest path to success is to say something incendiary, get picked up in the cable TV news or talk radio world, and then become a fundraising magnet. Because you know who loves that sort of entertainment? The ideologically driven voters who vote in primaries in hyper-partisan districts within closed-primary states!
“Notice that in the precise period when polarization progressed in Washington—that is, the last 40 years—there has been a corresponding polarization in the media. Coincidence? No way.
“I believe there is a causal connection.
“The behavior of the media and elected officials today is reminiscent of old-time wrestling. The squabbling is all for show. Bad behavior reigns.
“But there is good news.
“While the media and members of Congress flex their polarized muscles, fueled by talk radio and cable TV news, America is headed in a different direction. Polling shows that Americans largely consider their approach to the issues as ‘moderate,’ not tied to one end of the spectrum or the other.
“But around here? Moderate is a dirty word. The only thing worse than moderation is to be linked to compromise. But like I said, in the real world, while the number of voters who identify themselves as Republican or Democrat dips, the number who register to vote as Independents is on the rise. In other words, as the media has become polarized and taken Washington with it, they have left a significant part of the public behind. That part wants less polarization and more cooperation.
“I believe that we have to change this. It’s not going to be easy.
“The first step is for you to realize that your selections have consequences. You know, nobody ever got hurt in the pro wrestling I’d watch on Saturday mornings. It was fake. Everybody knew it. But today, the nation is suffering when we allow our debate to be dictated by men in tights!
“When I’m pumping my gas in Sand Key, or when I’m shopping for groceries in Publix, or maybe having a few toots with my buddies at a local dive on Tuesday nights, I don’t meet people who see things all one way. I meet people for whom the issues are a mixed bag. They’re liberal on some, usually social issues, and conservative on many, usually the economic ones. And a whole bunch, they just don’t have a clue. But politicians don’t take their cues from regular people. No, politicians listen to guys like me. And that’s not good. We’re no smarter than you are just because we give good ear, or look great on camera, and have a microphone in front of us.
“I believe that it’s time for the entertainers like me who enjoy the public trust—a trust automatically conferred on those with access to the airways—to win your support through intellectual fairness and integrity, not through scare tactics and demonization. Speaking of which, there is something else I need to say.
“I want to apologize to Governor Wynne James. What a now-deceased spouse said about you in the midst of a contentious divorce is not relevant to your fitness to hold high office. I am sorry I facilitated that charge being tossed into a presidential race, where it had no place. It’s about as insignificant to me as whether another candidate prays, and if so, in what church. I similarly regret ever having questioned Bob Tobias’ fitness for office in a country governed by a Constitution which expressly states that no religious test shall ever be required.
“I’m sure both of those statements come as a shock to many of you. And so will this.
“You wanna know my real platform? Well, here it is.
“I think profiling was necessary in the days after 9/11.
“I think that if you have a terrorist who has information that he won’t surrender after you give him a piece of quiche and a warm blanket, you should do whatever is necessary to save American lives.
“I think that if you kill a cop, you should pay with your own life.
“I think that our borders are porous and need to be controlled before we give a path to citizenship to those who are here illegally, or their cousins will just take their place.
“And I believe in the right to bear arms.
“But hold on. Before you give me a ‘hell yes’ and call me a ‘great American’ or refer to me as your ‘blood brother,’ there is more I want to say.
“I also believe that we should never have gone into Iraq.
“And that we stayed too long in Afghanistan.
“I believe that government spending is too damn high, but part of that spending is the money wasted by the defense department opening a new base every time somebody thinks they see a face that looks like al Qaeda.
“I believe that while the Second Amendment may protect your right to bear arms, it does not entitle you to own a weapon designed for a battlefield.
“I could not care less about same-sex couples. What they do is their business and what I do is mine.
“Mine is a live and let live mentality.
“And speaking of which, I think we need to legalize both pot and prostitution.
“My name is Stanislaw Pawlowsky. And I approve this message!”
• • •
My timing was impeccable. If there was one thing I had learned in the last 20 years it was how to manage a clock. I always did have what we call in the business, good “formatics.” Alex brought up the music bed. I turned off my mic. I removed my headphones. She came into the studio and gave me a hug. She may or may not have had a tear in her eye. I grabbed my legal pad with all my notes, and I walked out the door. Past Rod Chinkles who was beet red. Past Steve Bernson who was ashen. And beyond Don Fortini who seemed to be smiling. The receptionist tried to hand me a stack of telephone messages but I waved her off as I boarded the elevator. I got behind the wheel of my Lexus, figuring it would soon be handed back to the dealer who owned it, and put the roof down. Pulling out of the lot I saw him, my fisherman friend, standing in MacDill Park beneath the metal sculpture that I’d always found perplexing. Today I saw it differently, realizing that the collision of intersecting steel that the locals called “Big Red” wasn’t a three-story replica of a children’s game, nor the symbolism of the inertia that comes from competing forces, but rather, the oneness that can result when non-aligned interests give each other support. I looked at my buddy. So many days we’d given one another a subtle wave as I headed for home, without knowing one another’s names or situations, or so I thought. Today there was no nod, nor did he wave. Instead he took one hand and touched one of his ear buds. With the other, he gave me a thumbs up. For the first time in years, I felt the weight of the world lift from my shoulders.
As I headed up Ashley in the direction of 275 South, my iPhone rang. Instinctively I knew who it was without looking down. On the third ring I picked up and heard Phil’s voice.
“Hello?”
He was bouncing off the walls of his nerve center, just like I’d anticipated, but not for the reason I’d expected.
“Absofuckinglutely brilliant, Powers.”
I was dumbfounded. Unless he was being sarcastic.
“You really nailed it. You said everything the nation is clamoring for. I’ve been telling all the big mahoffs that people have had it with this polarization shit, and that the future is in the middle of the dial, Stan. We’ve killed the golden goose and it’s time to reset. You are the guy. Only you can make this happen.”
I just laughed and hung up the phone; the only person I wanted to speak to was Deb. Then I turned up the classic rock on my satellite radio.
And headed for home.
The End
Also by Michael Smerconish:
Morning Drive: Things I Wish I Knew Be
fore I Started Talking
(The Lyons Press, 2009)
Instinct: The Man Who Stopped the 20th Hijacker
(The Lyons Press, 2009)
Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice
(The Lyons Press, 2007)
Muzzled: From T-ball to Terrorism—True Stories That Should Be Fiction
(Thomas Nelson, 2006)
Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11
(Running Press, 2004)
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Talk: A Novel
Copyright © 2014 by Michael A. Smerconish
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