Sunday, July 13, 2008
Audacity, Hope, Etc. (Chapter 4)
Chapter 4 is titled “Politics”.
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I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the term “special interests,” which lumps together ExxonMobil and bricklayers, the pharmaceutical lobby and the parents of special-ed kids. Most political scientists would probably disagree with me, but to my mind, there’s a difference between a corporate lobby whose clout is based on money alone, and a group of like-minded individuals – whether they be textile workers, gun aficionados, veterans, or family farmers – coming together to promote their interests; between those who use their economic power to magnify their political influence far beyond what their numbers might justify, and those who are simply seeking to pool their votes to sway their representatives. The former subvert the very idea of democracy. The latter are its essence.
It is good to see that he has no illusions about being a populist.
I agree with him to a significant extent. Big corporations do have a large negative influence on policy, in that they are self-serving and they use government for rent seeking purposes. However, it must be noted that they do so with the tacit consent of the people, since the people have chosen a regulatory bureaucracy that drives these shenanigans.
The difference is in thinking that big rich companies influencing politics are inherently bad, while teeming masses of bricklayers and textile workers are the “essence” of democracy. Sure they are, up to the point where candidates start exploiting the greed and ignorance of these masses with socialist rhetoric. Then they become just one more rent-seeking group, albeit one with the voting power to actually make their policies stick.
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The rest of the chapter is mostly filler. He brings up JFK’s comments about legislators always making someone mad no matter how they vote, throws in a non-sequitur slam on the Bush tax cuts and shady accounting practices, and ends saying that it would take a truly courageous legislator to stand up to his friends and suggest making structural changes to “strengthen the link between voters and their representatives.” Here’s his list of proposed changes:
Non-partisan districting – sure, if such a thing is even possible
Same-day registration – maybe with proper safeguards
Weekend elections – fine
Public financing of campaigns – I admit, I giggled for several minutes at this point
Free television and radio time – no
Along with unspecified changes in the House and Senate to “empower legislators in the minority, increase transparency in the process, and encourage more probing reporting.” What - the filibuster isn’t enough?
Yes, it would definitely take courage to stick to these principles. Funny how once you’re running for president, all of that talk of courage and principle goes right out the window.
