This morning, WaPo notes that it isn’t just the Democrats who lack a compelling message going into the November elections:
Republican efforts to craft a policy and political agenda to carry the party into the midterm elections have stumbled repeatedly as GOP leaders face widespread disaffection and disagreement within the ranks.
There is little doubt that there is a dearth of ideas on both sides of the aisle at the moment–although, that may well be more the norm than we are willing to admit.
Along these lines, James Joyner noted in response to the story linked above:
The purpose of winning elections is not merely victory but the opportunity to enact one’s policy preferences.
I begin to wonder, to be honest, as to the degree to which this is the case, at least in terms of major policy. On balance, the first goal really does seem to be winning elections (and maintaining and/or capturing majorities), and policy is often an afterthought of sorts. I think that many of us (and I do include myself) who are political junkies forget this fact to some degree. We want politics to be battles of ideas and elections and governing to be about those ideas first and foremost. Of course, many of us are political junkies because we have clear ideas about how we think government should function, and assume (hope) that there are those running for office who share our clear vision.
Indeed, as Markos Moulitsas Zúniga noted in an interview with the NYT:
I generally avoid politicians. I find them quite dull.
Which is a sentiment echoed by Ann Althouse:
Yes, I identify with this attitude quite a bit. I’m interested in politics, but most definitely not in a way that makes me want to be near politicians.
Indeed. On balance, politicians aren’t really aren’t all that impressive, and I suspect that we who are outside of government probably think more about these issues that those elected to government do–as they have the more practical problems of getting elected and governing to deal with (indeed, with the two-year electoral cycle in the House of Representatives, one can be guaranteed that Representatives spend more time and mental energy on the issue of re-election than they do about deep philosophical issues).
Yes, I think that there is a general fight over some key schools of ideas over things like basic social policy, tax policy and national security policy, but the bottom line is what the candidates will do for the district (or state) once elected–hence the spending that never quite seems to get under control in Washington.
One thing that does occur to me in this context, is that many political active citizens, especially the type drawn to activities such as blogging, often find themselves paying more attention to the issue of winning elections, and less to the question of whether their policy preferences are being implemented, and hence we get the politics-as-sports phenomenon where all that matter is my team (i.e., the Donkeys or the Elephants) wins, with no real consideration as to what the actual policy outcomes are.
Now, such attitudes hardly encompass all persons of partisan persuasion, but it clearly shapes an awful lot of thinking–even going so far as to influence the way legislators and other elected officials behave once in office, often eschewing bipartisan cooperation for fear that it will result in the other team getting too much credit.
Of course, a lot of this is the result of the fact that our electoral system forces us into dichotomous thinking–not to mention the effects of gerrymandering and the fact that, for whatever reason, we tend to like re-electing incumbents.
For me all of these things have led of late to more dispassionate view of these issues (which is a good thing, from my professional POV).
Sphere: Related ContentThe views expressed in the comments are the sole responsibility of the person leaving those comments. They do not reflect the opinion of the author of PoliBlog, nor have they been vetted by the author.
March 21st, 2006 at 5:20 pm
One thing that does occur to me in this context, is that many political active citizens, especially the type drawn to activities such as blogging, often find themselves paying more attention to the issue of winning elections, and less to the question of whether their policy preferences are being implemented, and hence we get the politics-as-sports phenomenon where all that matter is my team (i.e., the Donkeys or the Elephants) wins, with no real consideration as to what the actual policy outcomes are.
well said