“Democracy,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “means simply the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people.” And there’s nothing like two painful years of presidential campaign coverage to make you feel bludgeoned. Though I do care about who becomes our next president, I sometimes long for the days before the CNN news ticker.

Spin, hype and the quest for ratings have made political contests into a freakish reality show. Just like The Real World, stupid “unscripted” plot lines, bimbo-ish preening and nonexistent clashes are thrown in our faces and called a national debate. Sure, scandalous stories (true or not) have been used to sell newspapers since the birth of the medium. But with the explosion of the 24-hour TV news cycle and the increased pressure of online media, the focus is on news that sells. And — surprise — crap sells.

I still read the comics, a procrastination technique I’ve maintained since about the third grade, and one of the best critics of the mainstream media (MSM) today is the cartoonist Darrin Bell, who writes the strip Candorville. In last Sunday’s comic, a sad looking man is walking down the street followed by a cheerful stand-in for the mainstream media. The sad man tells his plight panel by panel: he’s lost his job, his home, a child in Iraq, and has no health insurance. At each despairing comment, the MSM whispers in his ear, “Obama’s scary black pastor.” By the end, despite his other woes, the sad man is hypnotized by the refrain.

The sensational and dumbed-down nature of news reporting and national politics is not just hurting our chances of having a real national dialogue — though it does make it harder for issues like health care to be honestly debated. For politicians, the fear of how they could be portrayed in sensational headlines or victimized by pundits and opposing candidates has crippled their ability to make good policy.

“In order to maintain their popularity, politicians cannot afford to prescribe ‘bitter medicine,’” explained Stanford Communication Professor Shanto Iyengar in a 2006 interview with the Washington Post. “Policy is adopted not on the merits, but on the basis of ‘does it sell?’ Pandering to public opinion replaces leadership as the modus operandi of government.”

For two easy examples of how pandering has replaced leadership, consider the issues of illegal drugs and food subsidies. The U.S. government has spent billions of dollars on military drug interdiction operations in places like Colombia and Ecuador, has an entire department (the Drug Enforcement Administration) focused on the topic, and the country spends countless more money on drug enforcement at state and local levels. But, as most people know, the problem is not evil drug lords trying to force their product on the United States. The drug lords are certainly not acting with our best interests in mind, but they are simply responding to the economic demand the United States creates.

While countries like Mexico suffer — hundreds of their federal police have been killed battling the drug lords supplying the U.S. — we waste money stopping boats and burning cocoa fields. And legalizing drugs isn’t the only solution. A study by the RAND Corporation which was commissioned by the White House and the Army found that local drug treatment programs in the United States are ten times more effective per dollar at reducing drug use.

But no one wants to be the senator or congressman who votes to stop funding the war on drugs. You can imagine the attack ads in the next campaign: “Senator Jones voted to stop trying to protect your kids from drugs. Is this who you want as your senator?”

The same is true of farm subsidies. Despite commodity prices being at an all-time high, Congress could not pass a farm bill that reduced automatic subsidy payments to farmers already making more than $700,000. Instead, for the first time, Congress overrode a Bush veto, and much was said about “growing American” and protecting farmers (especially the rich ones who donate to campaigns). No one wants to be the politician accused of denying hardworking Americans their giant government checks.

I don’t support rampant drug use, and I don’t hate American farmers. But at a time when bridges are falling down, food prices are up and we are financing our debt with help from China and dictatorial oil states, I’d just prefer to stop wasting my tax money.

Winston Churchill is famous for terming democracy “the worst form of government, except for all the other ones that have been tried.” Fear of being torn apart by Fox News pundits or losing the next election means our representatives are letting us down in order to keep their jobs. Are there any politicians left with the moral courage to vote for the smart policy, even if it means taking some heat?

Michael is sick of stupid “shocking” headlines. Contact him at wilkerson "at" stanford.edu.