On Calcification [Meta Politics Idea Summary]

There's no Surgery for Political Systems

Calcification is a biological process in which calcium accumulates in muscle, rendering it immovable. It’s popularization in the political realm (hopefully due partly to the Meta Politics podcast) describes the accumulation of partisan rage rendering governing impossible.

Particularly in the United States, demonization of opposition, cultural, religious and identity pandering, media manipulation, and bipartisan embrace of conspiracy theories have resulted in calcified party bases.

This is a natural consequence of the malicious media strategies outlined in the previous post. Attempts to influence media through infiltration, exploitation or intimidation often explicitly cite these political tools - infiltration is justified through the demonization of “fascist” Trump or “communist” Biden, exploitation is brushed off as part of the corrupt consensus that is necessary to defeat the enemy, while intimidation weaponizes the aforementioned demonization to accuse objective news outlets of siding with one candidate or the other, even when accurately reporting.

The TLDR rule of thumb is that the stakes are raised without evidence in order to justify corruption, resulting in real violence and policy failures. Detailed documentation of US stimulus negotiations from the Hill indicates that greater government ineptitude, consequent damage and death resulted from partisan gridlock and corruption, rather than President Trump’s mistakes. This reporting aligns with expectations that congress ultimately holds financial power.