Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Jon Ralston: Media seekers need to get real

No, this is not one of those sarcastic, sardonic, snide screeds about elected officials, folks. This one is not intended to embolden the bitter, the sniping, the know-nothings.

I don't like to waste time and space swatting at gnats. But when boastful bugs can make their buzz louder by being amplified by ingenuous, ignorant columnists who give credibility to anyone who will patronize them and by segments of the public they are able to exploit with their sound-bite silliness, it's hard to keep silent. (Not that I have that problem very often.)

Although the phenomenon I speak of today is the political equivalent of Bozos squirting water from one of those phony flowers pinned to their costumes, unfortunately the effect is metastasizing beyond surprise and annoyance to insidious and pernicious.

It may seem hyperbolic and hysterical to say so, but the actions of these buffoons in activist clothing is to strike at the very core of representative democracy, to overturn the basic tenets of what the Founding Fathers intended so they can further a barely veiled political and personal agenda. All with the complicity and encouragement of the Fourth Estate.

The most obvious manifestation of this trend is the continued headline-granting awarded to one George Harris, who heads something he calls the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus. Since he began erecting placards of himself as a Bunyanesque figure threatening to chop down the state tax increases and since he started planting items in columns designed to enhance his credibility, Harris has basked in the media attention. After the session, he fulminated about recalling state Supreme Court justices and the governor, then about banning public employees and gaming industry campaign contributions. Whatever would get him attention, he spouted off about.

I even gave him some time on my program and he responded with deflections to almost every question and showed his utter lack of understanding of the budget. But no matter. He can use crude language and tap into a vein of public discontent to get attention.

This is not intended as an ad hominem attack -- for years, I saw Harris as a harmless activist who liked to brag about things he could never accomplish. He took on many causes and lost every one. No one, except for a few cronies, ever took him seriously -- inside the Republican Party or out. He was like one of those gadflies who hector local government officials at their meetings -- allowed to speak for a few minutes and then dismissed.

And yet Harris puts up billboards, has a columnist on speed-dial and is made to sound as if he is some political juggernaut. Recently, the Review-Journal referred to him as a "leading anti-tax activist." Leading? Who does Harris lead? He is leading only because the media lets him.

What of this group appended to his name -- The Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus? It's a shell, folks. Harris is a classic example of the Internet age of politics -- anyone with a few names on an e-mail list can claim to helm some group.

Harris has used his e-mail list to vent grudges against Gov. Kenny Guinn and others he sees as having kept him off the road to credibility and power. The faux caucus actually is a forum for conspiracy theorists, kooks and ignoramuses.

It's not to be taken seriously and neither is Harris. But because he can froth, he is put on camera and quoted.

So what, you say. Let him spew his palaver. Just don't give him any more ink.

Ordinarily, I'd agree. But this is not just about Harris. This is about giving the minority not just a voice, but also a club.

The minority ruled in Carson City, even though that minority favored the largest tax increase in history -- just at $500 million or $600 million or $700 million, not $836 million. But the Assembly Republicans will not tell that truth in Campaign '04.

The trend continues with the raft of initiative petitions being considered, including ones floated by Harris. As these petitions become more prevalent, the irony is that Nevada could turn into what like-minded Assemblyman Ron Knecht said he so feared during the session -- the transformation of Nevada into East California. Our neighbors to the West now thrive on recalls and initiatives, thus causing chaos and paralysis and a subversion of representative government.

Of course people should have access to the initiative process. But it should be difficult -- and that strange Ninth Circuit Court ruling last week will not help -- because the people should rely on their representatives to make these decisions and should seek redress only under the most egregious circumstances.

Putting every major decision on the ballot means we might as well have automatons in those elected seats or have huge electronic town hall meetings where citizens vote directly on everything. I have very little sympathy for the incumbents who privately wail about the megaphone granted to gadflies and fools, but are too cowardly to step forward and take them on.

Where are the Republicans to loudly challenge Harris? Are they afraid to give him credibility? Fine. But history is littered with demagogues, skillful and not, who have fueled the fires of fury with their incendiary rhetoric. The only way for innocuous buffoons to become dangerous leaders is for good men to do nothing.

Sound silly, hysterical even? Maybe.

But as I watch Harris and his ilk captivate the media, and as the public gurgles with resentment toward an often- confidence-draining elected elite, I don't know if I should ask to send in the clowns.

Why bother? They're here.

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