As has been the case the past decade, American media and popular poll interpretations of all issues – in this case, the Gulf Oil Spill – are simplistically polarized, with few nuanced or deeper discussions.  President Obama’s desire to link this catastrophe to a long-term environmental policy aimed at weaning the USA from oil, especially ‘foreign’, is simply dismissed by many ‘knowing’ voters as typical Liberal/ Leftie agenda.  The Republicans want to get back to “business as usual” asap... citing the fact that many Lousiana and Gulf states jobs are linked with continuing oil drilling.  One senior (Texas) Republican congressman, Joe Barton, even apologized to BP, about the deal struck earlier this week by the White House and BP executives to establish a $20 billion escrow fund to pay claims of economic loss by Gulf coast residents.  Barton referred to the account as a "slush fund”, lacking legal standing and setting a bad precedent for the treatment of companies regarding future disasters.  Under current U.S. law (following the Exxon Valdez spill), oil companies were cut a deal by Congress wherein their maximum liability was capped at $75 million, which the BP spill has already exceeded by $ billions.  "I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case, a $20-billion shakedown," Barton told BP CEO Hayward at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.  Although Barton was subsequently condemned by some of his Republican colleagues, his sentiments are echoed by many grass roots Republicans - that this is just an unfortunate glitch which we should clean up and then continue as before. The polls presently seem to favour Republicans.
This unprecedented catastrophe and its partisan interpretations bring into sharp focus for me, at least two underlying and recurring issues and questions, which are rarely if ever discussed in popular American media.  In this case, the enormity of the situation begs extra attention:

• Firstly, why is every issue treated by the Media as Either-Or, Left-Right, Democrat-Republican?  The obvious answer is that for the Media, such an approach is a win-win situation. 1) It provokes controversy- “Which of these 2 alternatives do you vote for?” which increases coverage, viewership, readership... and advertising revenue. 2) It provides a convenient excuse for not having an opinion, vision or basic intelligence... “If we just treat each conflicting view as equal, we will come across as professional, knowing, intelligent, sophisticated and just!”  To me, such conclusions of equivalence are illogical since they neither address the specifics/particulars of the situation (How likely is it that all probabilities in the Universe fall into a Democratic/ Republican dichotomy?) nor seek to rank them in terms of Qualitative importance i.e. the possibility that something is inherently more important than something else.  For example, the Republicans seek to equate Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Contragate and George W. Bush’s fake Iraq War with Bill Clinton’s cover-up of his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky on the grounds that they were all Presidents merely covering up their pecadillos/ missteps.  Hello!!?? Sexual misconduct is being equated with spying on political (American) rivals, international, drug-related subversion and outright, avoidable wars!!??  Think of the cost in Lives and Treasury! In the case of the present Gulf Oil Spill, Obama is being accused of using a crisis to advance an agenda – more Sustainability - which we actually all need, whether Democrat or Republican! I don’t hear the Media comparing Obama’s Gulf oil environmental linkage with George W Bush using 9/11 to establish military bases in Iraq, trying to control Iraqi oil and giving Bush- Cheney friendly companies like Haliburton $ billions contracts. Why not???  Incidentally, Haliburton was involved in the supposed ‘safe’ capping of the well that is now spewing into the Gulf!!... again no significant media coverage of this fact, which would seem to be to be historically relevant.  However, in these Internet times, we seem to have short memories!
• Is the present American (and other ‘developed’ Democratic countries’) economic/ political system capable of introducing and implementing policies aimed at long-term goals? Very probably, Not!!!  Corporate stock values go up and down daily on half-baked ideas, whims, emotional reaction or simple panic and corporations are now widely regarded as part of the fabric of government – check out the G8, G20 summits and others like Davos!.  Corporate decisions are definitely short term... make a ‘profit’ in this quarter, share prices will go up and the executives will earn their bonuses! Similarly, politicians, in bed with their corporate buddies, look towards re-election every 4 years or so, often focused on how much “pork”  (“profit”) spending they can direct to their local electorate.  Neither the Media nor the Electorate will give ‘brownie points’ for long-term policies... which means our children’s and grand-children’s quality of life... Destroy the Environment as long as the consequences don’t come to roost on our watch!  Polls and surveys show that we are self-centered with very strong tendencies to immediate gratification.  That is perfectly Democratic but it does have consequences which conflict with our supposed Ideals! There is a significant gap between our Talk and our Walk!  Selfishness is Democratic but that does have consequences, which we are seeing now, not as an aberration, but recurring facts. We get the leaders and policies that we select and deserve... for better or worse.

In the end, Democracy depends on you and me and what we want.  At present, we are getting what we really want and it conflicts with our avowed Ideals and Hopes.  To truly Change entails “spiritual transformation” which may entail delaying or even giving up gratification.