CMV: Both Democrats and Republicans frequently use the method of "Political Theater" (defined below) to manipulate and exploit their own voters for their own gain.

Here are a few examples of political theater that I feel are pretty obvious, and since we're in the election season, I'll start with one from the current administration:<br><br>1.) The US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general: The drone strike was widely known to be illegal since there was no declaration of war, but it made big headlines for a few days, with various talking heads on both sides taking their respective predictable stances. All of the major candidates for the Democratic nominee for President vowed to do better, but none offered any concrete legislation they would introduce to hold the President accountable for breaking international law. In the end, the house did pass two bills to reign in the President's power, but the Senate ended up not taking them up and the main stream media largely stopped covering the issue. The President gave a speech where he declared victory and since then, the main stream media has not bothered to follow up with what happened to the 60 US casualties from the Iran missile strike, or to see if anyone was held accountable for the strike.<br><br>2.) The Democrats frequently use the method of political theater to make their corporate donors happy. In recent memory, this has been particularly egregious with their actions on climate change. They frequently state that climate change is an existential threat that needs to be dealt with, but when legislation comes up, they frequently either: A.) table the bill with no discussion or B.) heavily amend the bill to remove most of the teeth: Examples of this can be seen in the Climate Action Now Act (Tabled in the Senate by McConnell), The Sunshine Protection Act (Passed the Senate, but hasn't been taken up by the house in over a year) and the recent PRO Act (Passed the house, but the Senate hasn't taken it up in almost two months).<br><br>3.) Republicans engage in political theater over what they call "frivolous spending". In 2020, the omnibus bill included money to continue building the wall. In 2019, the Democrats and Republicans couldn't come to an agreement over funding the wall, which caused the longest government shut-down in US history. After the Democrats caved into the President's demands and agreed to the omnibus bill, the Democrats claimed victory over the Republicans on Twitter, stating that they prevented the government from being shut down, while the Republicans claimed victory over the Democrats because the bill included money for the wall. In reality, the wall was a political tool used by the Republicans to get their base riled up and to produce campaign ads showing how "liberal" the Democrats are: Before the Republicans took control of the house in 2010, they made many claims about how the Democrats were responsible for out of control government spending, and that they would cut wasteful spending if they were voted into office. When they did take control of the house in 2010, they passed legislation that included riders which prohibited the government from defunding things like the NSA's mass surveillance program and the drone program: Two things they claimed were "frivolous spending" under the Obama administration. To this day, both of those programs are still operational and there is still no legislation which would cut their funding.<br><br>4.) The "Green New Deal": This is an example of legislation that was clearly designed to be used as political theater. Many Republicans decried the bill as "insane" and "radical" before it was even released. When the bill was released, it made many promises that sounded great to progressive voters, but included zero method by which those promises would be kept. It was clear that the bill was dead on arrival: Republicans-controlled the Senate at the time the bill was introduced, so the bill was tabled with only one Democrat voting for it. Since it was tabled, there has been no follow-up from the main stream media on whether Ocasio-Cortez would follow through with her promises to gather more co-sponsors for the bill.<br><br>5.) Exploiting the torture and death of George Floyd: Before the George Floyd incident, the police reform bill the Democrats passed was watered down to remove most of the teeth. After the George Floyd incident, the Democrats introduced a new bill that was even more watered down and then had various Democrats take the knee and theatrically state the names of various black people who were tortured and killed by police in the last few years. In the end, the bill was filibustered by the Republicans since it was seen as "frivolous" and the main stream media largely stopped covering the issue, even though the Democrats could have easily used budget reconciliation to get the bill passed.<br><br>6.) The "refugee crisis" at the border: The current administration clearly exploits refugees to rile up their base and produce campaign commercials showing how "liberal" the Democrats are. Both the Democrats and Republicans frequently use the method of political theater to exploit refugees for the same reasons. When the Democrats took control of the house in 2019, they passed legislation which they claimed would alleviate the suffering of the refugees at the border, but in reality, the bill included massive increases to ICE funding: The Democrats claimed that ICE would use the money to house the refugees in better conditions, but it ended up that they used the money to build new facilities in which they continue to house the refugees in shoddy conditions. The Democrats then frequently used Twitter and other social media to attack the administration for the shoddy conditions and to claim that they really care about the refugees, even though they were the ones who gave the administration the money they used to build the facilities.<br><br>7.) The Supreme Court: The Democrats have a slight majority in the Senate right now, but they can't seem to pass legislation. The recent ruling from the Supreme Court that corporations don't have to pay for birth control as part of their health insurance plans could be easily overruled by the Senate, but Senate Democrats are too spineless to do anything about it. Instead they have taken to Twitter and other social media to attack the Republicans for the ruling, even though they are in a position to overrule the decision.<br><br>8.) The Covid Relief Bill: The legislation the Democrats passed in response to the Covid pandemic was a joke, with many people stating that it didn't go far enough. The Democrats tried to use various methods to pass legislation that would have gone further to help citizens, but they were blocked by Senate Republicans at every turn. Instead of doing everything in their power to pass more legislation to help with the pandemic, the Democrats instead frequently use Twitter and other social media to attack the Republicans for not being willing to compromise and to claim that they really care about the average American, even though they were the ones who voted for the bill which included bailouts for corporations, but offered little relief to private citizens.<br><br>I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of political theater in the recent history of the US. If you disagree with me, please tell me why: I've shown that both Democrats and Republicans frequently use the method of political theater to exploit their bases and I think I've made a solid case for my CMV.<br><br>EDIT: By "Political Theater", I mean when politicians act like they are doing something for the good of the country, but in reality they are simply acting in order to exploit their base and line their own pockets.<br><br>This is a pretty frequently-employed tactic by both parties and it is the reason why so many people view politicians as slimy and manipulative. The frequently-used method of "political theater" by politicians is also a big part of the reason why politicians are viewed as being untrustworthy and out of touch with the common man. In reality, since the politicians control the media through various means, people frequently see the theater and miss the fact that the politicians are actually working against the common man's interests.<br><br>This is very dangerous to democracy because the common man's interests should theoretically be represented by the government. When politicians use the method of "political theater" in order to exploit their base, they are acting against the interests of their constituents and instead acting in their own self-interest.<br><br>If politicians were actually working to represent the interests of their constituents, they would do everything in their power to pass legislation that would help their constituents, rather than simply acting like they are doing something for the collective good when in reality they have no intention of actually doing anything to help.