Political Self Delusion
January 23rd 2011 21:34
We all have egos -- it goes with the species. Even so, politicians seem more self centered than almost anybody else. The most obvious examples are the late Ted Stevens of Alaska who warned that if he couldn't have his bridge to nowhere, he would resign from the Senate, which would presumably be bad for the senate, and of course Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.) When an individual or a party wins an election, they conclude that the people have spoken and endorsed the party (or personal) platform.
It''s possible they have. More often though, it seems as if the vote is about the state of the economy. If things are good, people vote for the party in power. When things are bad, the vote goes to whoever is out. There aren't many people who pay attention to politics, but a lot who study their paychecks.
President Obama and the Democrats were elected at a time when the economy was in crisis. They enacted a stimulus package that was smaller and less robust than liberal economists recommended, and then walked away, focusing on healthcare reform. Healthcare reform was essential, but what we needed was jobs -- everything else could wait.
Two years later, the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives. Their first action was to vote out the Healthcare Reform Law -- which is okay because they prioritized that. But instead of focusing on jobs, they seem to want to get to their underlying agenda -- shrinking government and outlawing abortion. This may motivate their conservative base, but the economic consequences of major cuts in the federal budget would be very harmful before there's a strong recovery. Each party seems to assume that an election is about their underlying agenda, but whatever to polls say, the real focus is on restoring the economy, not in technical terms of GDP, but in unemployment rate and home foreclosures.
Tip O'Neil said "all politics is local", and he came close, but it would be truer to say that all politics is personal. Neither party seems willing to focus on personal economics. This other stuff can wait until the unemployment rate if down to 7 - 8%.
The American people do speak on a regular basis, but it seems as if a lot of politicians only hear their own voices.
It''s possible they have. More often though, it seems as if the vote is about the state of the economy. If things are good, people vote for the party in power. When things are bad, the vote goes to whoever is out. There aren't many people who pay attention to politics, but a lot who study their paychecks.
President Obama and the Democrats were elected at a time when the economy was in crisis. They enacted a stimulus package that was smaller and less robust than liberal economists recommended, and then walked away, focusing on healthcare reform. Healthcare reform was essential, but what we needed was jobs -- everything else could wait.
Two years later, the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives. Their first action was to vote out the Healthcare Reform Law -- which is okay because they prioritized that. But instead of focusing on jobs, they seem to want to get to their underlying agenda -- shrinking government and outlawing abortion. This may motivate their conservative base, but the economic consequences of major cuts in the federal budget would be very harmful before there's a strong recovery. Each party seems to assume that an election is about their underlying agenda, but whatever to polls say, the real focus is on restoring the economy, not in technical terms of GDP, but in unemployment rate and home foreclosures.
Tip O'Neil said "all politics is local", and he came close, but it would be truer to say that all politics is personal. Neither party seems willing to focus on personal economics. This other stuff can wait until the unemployment rate if down to 7 - 8%.
The American people do speak on a regular basis, but it seems as if a lot of politicians only hear their own voices.
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