Patriocracy, the new documentary from writer/producer/director/editor Brian Malone (who directed Breaking News: Celebrity Trials And The Media and Intelligent Life), tackles the current political climate with its economic crisis, and the way the media creates and shapes public opinion. It opens by showing American politics as divisive and dysfunctional, Democrats and Republicans refusing to work together, and states that without compromise the system will fail. It then poses the questions: How did we get here? How do we get out? Pertinent questions not only because of the economy, but because this is an election year.
In a Gallup poll from September 12, 2011, it was revealed that 82% of Americans disapprove of Congressional performance, which is an all-time high. This is tied in with the idea that we as a people are not optimistic or hopeful about the future. There is scary footage of the ignorant and loud people from a "Restoring Honor" rally. One man actually says, "I learned all I needed to know about Islam on 9/11." Yikes. Of course, the events of September 11, 2001 are outside the scope of this film. A woman says, regarding President Obama, "I don't think he's even a legalized citizen." I was surprised to learn that folks are still clinging to that argument.
But this sort of thing is not just from the average citizen, but also within the government. The film includes the footage of South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson heckling President Obama: "You lie!" Democrats and Republicans don't know each other now, as they did in the past; they don't associate with each other outside of work. And so they're more likely to argue, less likely to discuss.
The film does include interviews with a good range of folks, including senators and representatives, some retired and some currently serving. One of the most entertaining and the most human of these folks is Senator Alan Simpson, a retired senator from Wyoming - a Republican who shockingly seems to be the funniest of those interviewed - he refers to the faux news commentators as "vapor heads" - that is wonderful. He also is one of the co-chairs appointed by President Obama to the Bipartisan Fiscal Commission, to find ways to balance the country's books.
Also interviewed for this film are reporters and commentators such as Ken Rudin (political commentator for National Public Radio), Bob Schieffer (Chief Washington Correspondent for CBS News), and Eleanor Clift (reporter for Newsweek). The film is narrated by Josh Goodman.
The film does introduce elements that it fails to follow up on. For example, the film traces the current deep division between the parties to 1964, when LBJ soundly beat Barry Goldwater, but it doesn't really explain how that election led to our current problem. The film suddenly jumps to 1979, to Newt Gingrich using television to get across a right-wing platform that offers no room for compromise. What happened in the meantime? And what exactly was it about that 1964 election that led to such a division between the parties? Remember, one of the two questions at the beginning of the film was "How did we get here?"
And of course the film links the current economic crisis to Bush's tax cuts and then to 9/11 and the whole "War On Terror." (Remember that when Bush took office there was actually a surplus.) The initial cost of Bush's "War On Terror" was $21 billion, and the initial cost of his war on Iraq was $87 billion. The housing market collapsed. Then of course there were the auto manufacturers and bank bail-outs ($17.4 billion and $87 billion respectively). And then came Obama's American Recovery Act. And where did all this money come from? Mostly it was borrowed from China.
Where this documentary is most successful and intriguing is in the section on the media. Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, points out that because of the internet and the large number of cable channels, if a person wants his or her news told from a conservative point of view, it's available, and if he or she wants it from a liberal perspective, that's also easy to attain. The result of this is that everyone is no longer getting the same information, the same data. And folks aren't really learning anything, because the information they receive is slanted to back up the opinions they already hold.
And from there, this documentary delves into the news and the faux news shows. So many shows that pass themselves off as news are merely entertainment, offering views on news that others have investigated and reported. The leg work is done by others, and these shows merely give commentary on that news. But folks are confused by this, taking these entertainers as reporters.
In one of the best segments of the documentary, they take a news item, and show how Fox News presents it. Starting and stopping the footage to show exactly what is being done, and how it is manipulative, how the story is slanted to the right. Then they take the same story and show how MSNBC slants it to the left. This is an excellent section of the film.
Patriocracy then goes into the money involved in running for office. As one of those interviewed puts it, we have professionalized what used to be an amateur sport. Patriocracy presents some incredible and startling statistics. The average campaign for a U.S. Representative costs over $1 million, and a Senate campaign is more than $4 million (and has high as $150 million). It makes the point that raising money causes a politician to owe favors to special interests, so that they can't compromise once they get into office. (This film, remember, asked how we got to this position where politicians won't compromise.)
One of the biggest dangers is that companies are now able to donate money anonymously, and this gives corporations rights like people. Corporations could conceivably run America. As Rep. Jim Cooper says, "Just one large company's quarterly earnings could buy the entire American political process if they unleashed that financial power." Now more money is spent than ever before.
And yes, this documentary does discuss solutions to these problems, solutions offered by retired Representative Mickey Edwards and groups like No Labels.
One other thing I have to mention. In a shot of a computer toward the end of the film, in a section about ruck.us, the line on the screen is "Patriocracy is a groundbreaking new documentary." Is it funny, or just wrong, to promote your film within the film? That seems a bit low, and causes me to take the film slightly less seriously, which is a shame.
Patriocracy premiered in the fall of 2011. Look for special screenings of this documentary in your area. As of now, there is no scheduled date for a DVD release.
Time: 87 minutes
Rawr!
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