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Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Governing In An Ideological Age

Stratfor’s George Friedman says that the paralysis of our government is the unhappy outcome of 1970s-era political reform that did in the traditional Republican and Democratic power brokers, and elevated moneyed interests and ideologues. Excerpts: The reformers wanted to break the hold of the party bosses over the system and open it to dissent, something […]

Stratfor’s George Friedman says that the paralysis of our government is the unhappy outcome of 1970s-era political reform that did in the traditional Republican and Democratic power brokers, and elevated moneyed interests and ideologues. Excerpts:

The reformers wanted to break the hold of the party bosses over the system and open it to dissent, something party bosses disliked. The reformers did so by widely replacing state conventions with primary systems. This severely limited the power of state and county chairmen, who could no longer handpick candidates. These people no longer controlled their parties as much as presided over them.

Political parties ceased being built around patronage systems, but rather around the ability to raise money. Money, not the bosses’ power, became the center of gravity of the political system, and those who could raise money became the power brokers. More important, those who were willing to donate became candidates’ main constituency. The paradox of the reforms was that in breaking the power of the bosses, money became more rather than less important in the selection of candidates. Money has always been central to American politics. There has never been a time when it didn’t matter. But with the decline of political bosses, factors other than money were eliminated.

Not only did money come to dominate politics as never before, but so did ideology:

For most Americans, private life is more important than public life. There is only so much time and energy available, the issues are arcane and rarely involve things that will change ordinary citizens’ lives much, and there is little broad-based ideological passion. Citizens frequently don’t know or care who their congressman is, let alone who their state senator is. They care about schools and roads and taxes, and so long as those are functioning reasonably well, they are content.

This greatly frustrated the reformers. They cared deeply about politics, and believed that everyone should, too. But in the country our founders bequeathed us, it was expected that most people would concern themselves with private things. And in fact they do: They do not vote in primaries or even in general elections.

The primaries were left to the minority who cared. At the beginning, these were people who felt strongly about particular issues: corporate greed, the environment, war, abortion, taxes, and so on. Over time, these particular issues congealed into ideology. An ideology differs from issue-oriented matters in that ideology is a package of issues. On the right, low taxes and hostility to abortion frequently are linked. On the left, corporate greed and war are frequently linked. Eventually, a bond is created showing that apparently disparate issues are in fact part of the same package.

As Friedman goes on to explain, for ideologues, compromise amounts to an intolerable capitulation of principle. Therefore, it is a hated thing. Here is the key graf:

There is a vast difference between principle and ideology. Principles are core values that do not dictate every action on every subject, but guide you in some way. Ideology as an explanation of how the world works is comprehensive and compelling. Most presidents find that governing requires principles, but won’t allow ideology. But it is the senators and particularly the congressmen — who run in districts where perhaps 20 percent of eligible voters vote in primaries, most of them ideologues — who are forced away from principle and toward ideology.

Read the whole thing. Friedman says that we are all partly to blame for this state of affairs — even the indifferent middle whose lack of interest in public life allows the ideologues of left and right to run things — but he has no idea how we get out of this deep ditch of dysfunction.

[H/T: Reader JLF]

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