The Individual in Politics
This is the first of eight chapters in “A Course in Practical Politics”. While originally developed by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States to help increase the political awareness and effectiveness of businessmen, the material has been updated to be relevant today and to educate and inspire everyone, regardless of gender, race, or social status. If your only activity is voting on Election Day you have placed yourself in the position of allowing others who are active in the political process to choose who you get to vote for. Perhaps you would have liked a choice of moderate candidates running on both the Republican and Democratic tickets but active minorities on the far right and far left has already effectively removed the moderates from the ballot. You are now just a consumer of someone else’s product.
Politics Shapes Government
In a free society, the line between politics and government is difficult to define. Politics profoundly shapes the character of government—and government profoundly affects every individual in the United States at the local, state and national level. Government, in turn, shapes politics. This material, however, distinguishes between government and politics. Politics, essentially, is the process of selecting, nominating and electing the men and women who, as representatives of the citizens, manage the public affairs of the nation at the local, state and national level. Government is the actual management of those affairs.
Many Forces Affect Government
The basic philosophy and attitudes of the American people ultimately determine the solutions to critical governmental questions, such as:
What is the proper dividing line between government and private action?
What should be the relationship between the states and local communities and the national government?
What forms of taxation will best allow maximum economic growth, national security and adequate assistance for those in economic need, while honoring past commitments to the elderly and infirm?
Every individual has a responsibility for studying basic issues such as these, for observing and analyzing the operations of government, and for expressing informed views on proposed governmental policies and actions to their friends and neighbors, and to those who have been elected to conduct their government for them. But government is also shaped by the philosophies of those who are selected, nominated and elected by their fellow citizens to represent them. They translate the views of the majority into specific governmental action. Inevitably their own views color that translation.
As you will see as you progress through this material, a very small percentage of the eligible voters in any election provide us with the candidates we have a choice to vote for. For most of us this means that we are the consumers of some small minority of voters’ decision of who will run for election. All too often, the organized extreme end of both national parties is the ones making that choice for the rest of us, the vast majority of eligible voters.
Elections Are at the Heart of Politics
Too many people tend to brush off the actions of Congress, or of state legislatures, or of town councils with the phrase, “it’s all politics.” What do they mean? They could mean a congressman voted for a bill because he thought approval of the measure would gain votes among his constituents. A state legislator voted against a bill that was opposed by some influential groups because he knew they would support him in his next campaign for re-election. A member of a town council paid what is commonly called a “political debt” stemming from support he received in a previous political campaign. The adage that “the first duty of a politician is to be re- elected” is based on hard realities. But its significance is easily misinterpreted. It does not necessarily mean politicians lack integrity. Many politicians have developed the fine art of compromise on the unessential while adhering steadfastly to the principles in which they believe. The suspicion, and hope, is that most of the people we elect are good moral people who intend to act in the best interests of the people of the area they represent and, in general want to act in the best interests of the community, their state and the nation. None of them can ignore elections, however. If a single issue interest group’s organization and money were instrumental to the election of the politician, their ability to compromise, or in the bigger sense, act like a statesman, is limited or non-existent when the politician has that single issue before them.
Politicians are a cross-section of America. Some are good, some are bad, and some are indifferent. Some are opportunists and others will not compromise their principles. Like other Americans,they want to keep their jobs or get better ones.The county attorney wants to be governor.The governor would like to go to the Senate. Many senators would not be averse to sitting in the oval office at the White House. Despite these very human ambitions, however, many politicians with sound economic and social philosophies have had the courage in their campaigns for election or reelection to advance their philosophy with all the vigor and sincerity at their command. Unfortunately in recent years, well-funded and powerful single issue groups have shown that they can seriously impair the election or reelection chances of those politicians who do not support their single issue cause. Perhaps they won; perhaps they lost. If they lost, a soul-searching question is in order: Could they have won if politically inactive men and women had known how to be politically effective—and had put that knowledge to good use in supporting their campaigns?
The great majority of people today are “political consumers.” Their votes are the currency with which they buy the packaged candidates and platforms of one party or the other.They do not help determine to any appreciable extent what goes into those packages. To become more than a “consumer” in politics, it is necessary to know something about how politics is organized and how it operates. This “Course in Practical Politics” presents such background information. It will be especially helpful to those who say in effect, “I want to be politically active, but how? Where do I start? What can I do?”
Political Activity Is Not an End in Itself
Although many people have made careers out of politics, the average citizen must inevitably regard politics as a means to an end. The end is good government—government that will promote the general welfare of the nation—government that is broadly representative of all interests and all groups. Government is managed by people selected, nominated and elected through our political processes. The rules and regulations —the laws—passed by these individuals affect the health and expansion of the economy, the fiscal solvency of the nation, the proportion of an individual’s income that is taken in taxes, the way that tax money is spent, and a thousand and one other items that determine the future of the United States.
Every individual who abdicates his political responsibilities to other more politically- active individuals and groups should remember the admonition of President Theodore Roosevelt: “If decent people do not like the way politicians behave they should either get into politics or refrain from complaining about anything the politicians do.”
Is Our Democracy in Decline?
Even in the Birthplace of modern democracy—the United States of America—this political concept is suffering from serious problems. An article in the Economist from March 1, 2014 has an insightful analysis of the current struggles of our democracy and others around the globe. The article points out many structural failures and problems of all modern settled and emerging democracies. Several quotes from the article are in order. “The biggest challenge to democracy, .., comes from neither from above (globalization) or below (NGO’s, lobbyist coupled with the power of modern communications to agitate and organize) but from within – from voters themselves.
Plato’s greatest worry about democracy, (was) that citizens would ‘live from day to day, indulging the pleasure of the moment”(rather than planning for the long term). Does this sound familiar? “Adjusting to hard times will be made even more difficult by a growing cynicism towards politics. Party membership is declining across the developed world; only 1% of Britons are now members of political parties as compared to 20% in 1950”. Most of us would not disagree with the idea that there appears to be some things wrong with our democracy. Democracy is always a messy process that does not function very well when making long term decisions that have short term consequences. Our elected officials, particularly at the National level, are unwilling to take on long term and festering problems and often defer solutions – kicking the can down the road – for some later administration to deal with.
Everyone knows that there are structural problems with Social Security (too many retirees not enough wage earners); that our several “Wars on (fill in the blank) have not worked and are not working and that delaying seeking solutions will only make a fix much harder to stomach at a later date. Our country needs forward thinking people to run for public offices that are not cut down in the primaries by special interests. We need people who are not afraid to tell us what we need to know – not what a poll tells them we want to hear. Will using the knowledge of this book accomplish this? The answer is “ Yes”. If enough of us get active, seek and support candidates that will not be beholden to lobbyists and special interests we can bring back the promise of the founding fathers. It may not be tomorrow or next year but it will happen.
Government Represents All Groups
Our society is composed of many groups with varying interests—geographic, economic, ethnic, religious and social. The authors of the Constitution felt that the views of all these groups should be represented in government to obtain a final result acceptable to the majority without trampling on the basic rights of any minority. The growth and use…by one special interest group of political power which has no effective check is not the fault primarily of those who achieve the power, for it is their right to try. Rather, the fault is principally on the part of those of us who, by our inactivity and silence, allowed it to happen.
Many of us complain about the apparent power of groups like the Tea Party to punish so-called moderate Republican office holders. Borrowed is a statement from the past that illustrated the power of organized labor. For this example is used a reference to the “Tea Party” but the reader can insert any organized and well-funded interest group. “If the citizens whose interests are different from, or broader than, those championed by the ‘Tea Party’ would take as much pains to protect those interests as the ‘Tea Party’ is taking to protect its interests, the story might be an entirely different one. Certainly, there is no point in condemning Tea Party-endorsed candidates for feeling under obligation to the positions of the “Tea Party”.. Unfortunately, however, the citizen with broad interests is rarely a party worker, or even an active citizen. Why, therefore, should we be surprised that more ‘independent’ candidates are not elected to office? “It would be a fine thing if all officeholders felt under obligation to all types of citizens and hence based their judgments on the rules of the greatest long-term good for the greatest number. But we will never reach that utopia unless or until all citizens resolve to work three hundred and sixty-five days a year at being citizens.”
The previous quote is not meant to condemn the motives or goals of the “Tea Party”. In a representative Democracy they have every right to advance their objectives. The ”Tea Party” is a prime example of a minority who understands the lessons of this book and has practiced them very effectively.
The Individual in Politics
Two important features of politics in the united States increase the opportunities for effective political action by individuals: • Politics is organized group action. • Politics is local. These two facts must inevitably shape any “A Course in Practical Politics.” POLITICS IS ORGANIZED GROUP ACTION. Any individual who wants to increase their political effectiveness must start with the realization that politics is organized. Candidates have been nominated and elected in the past without his or her active support. The men and women who represent them will continue to be selected through the political process, whether they participate or not.
In the United States, politics revolves around the two major political parties Practically our government functions under the two party system. Third parties do exist but other than local elections, third parties rarely are able to place people on state and national ballots that have any chance of winning in the general election. Many might wish that a more diverse group of people be elected to office than what the Democrats and Republicans give us each election cycle.
There are procedural hurdles (many of which have been established by the two dominant parties) and legal hurdles to any third party getting their nominees elected to any major political office. Many of the framers of the Constitution were fearful of political parties and warned against them, but their development was inevitable. George Washington was adamantly opposed to a political party system but by the time of the Jefferson administration a two party system was already in place. Even if they were not essential in our form of government, political parties would have developed. It has been said that “if politics were not organized, someone would come along and organize it”.
As long as people have different views on basic questions of government, those with similar views will join together, recognizing that “in union there is strength.” Defects in the party system as it has grown up in the United States is a favorite subject of political scientists. Many books have analyzed the growth and operation of political parties and have recommended improvements. This course is not concerned with such value judgments.It accepts as basic premises that political parties do exist, that they are already organized to perform a major political role in our system of government, and that to be effective a beginne rin politics must relate their activities to party organization. Some say, “Like it or not, the beginner must, if he or she is looking for long range effectiveness, confine their activity to involvement in either the Democratic or Republican party.” Not so, as, in fact, the existence of all political parties, major or minority, offers real advantages to the beginner in politics. It means they do not have to embark alone on an uncharted sea.
Political parties are composed of millions of workers. There is a niche for them if they want it. POLITICS IS local. As they cast their, first tentative glances at political participation, beginners can easily make the age-old mistake of “concentrating on the forest instead of the trees.”They recognize the fact that political parties play a dominant role in politics,but they are inclined to think of the parties in terms of a national election with a far-removed national committee composed of party leaders with statewide and national reputations. Beginners would be less than human if they did not wonder how they could make an appreciable impact in such a system. But that’s looking at the forest and not at the trees. The beginner—even as the professional in politics does—should concentrate on the individual trees—the precinct, the ward, the town, the city.
Alexis de Tocqueville argued that local democracy represented democracy at its best. Town meetings bring liberty within the peoples reach. They teach men how to use and enjoy it.” Political parties are composed of thousands of individual political organizations. In the final analysis, the success of the party depends upon the effectiveness of these organizations. That “elections are won and lost in the precincts” is a political truism. A handful of votes can change the result in many local elections; even the majorities that run into millions in a presidential election are built up one vote at a time. Anyone becomes effective in politics just as soon as they become effective in politics in their own community. It is generally accepted that somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 votes, or less, in a few precincts in Florida determined who was elected president in the 2000 presidential election.
The Mechanics of Politics
Most individuals have definite opinions on the type of government that is most conducive to the development of this country and the well-being of all its inhabitants. Many of them, however, have not taken the time to study the mechanics of politics that will help them achieve better government.They may not understand: • How candidates are selected for public office. • How politics is organized. • How a political campaign is run. • Where political clubs fit into the political picture. • How a precinct leader is selected and what they do. This course is concerned with those mechanics. It provides insights into the many different ways individuals can be active in politics and explains how they can use their skills and knowledge most effectively in political activity.