Politics as usual
By Patrick Kelley (Contact)
Originally published 02:21 p.m., June 26, 2008
Updated 02:21 p.m., June 26, 2008
Once again, the cry of the voter is heard in the land: “Stop the politics!”
The people of the United States hate politics. If a politician does something people don’t like, they accuse him or her of “playing politics.”
The endless mess in Washington is defined as “politics as usual.” It is clear that people think that politics is one of the things that is wrong with the nation.
There is some truth in that. We have spent the past seven years putting up with a government that cannot tell the difference between politics and governing, and it has been a terrible time. It has not been as terrible as recent months in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe, another politician who cannot tell the difference between politics and governing, has decided that politics as usual will henceforth include intimidation, beatings, torture and murder. Things have not gotten that bad in the United States.
Politics has intruded into government from the earliest days of the republic. One of the greatest reforms in the U.S. government was the passage of the Civil Service law, which took many jobs out of the gift of politicians and created a professional administrative class insulated from the whims of partisan politics.
Ideally, politics is merely the process used to elect a government. Governing is what politicians are supposed to do after they get elected.
Politics as it is practiced today is a direct response to conflicting demands from the voters:
• Just tell us the truth.
• Now, put it on a bumper sticker.
Very little truth will fit on a bumper sticker, other than “GRAVITY: Not just a theory, it’s the LAW” or “I (heart symbol) Cats” (or dogs or N.Y. or whatever). People who buy and use bumper stickers with heart symbols on them are usually telling the absolute truth.
But asking a politician to tell the truth in a single short statement is sort of like asking the Pope to fully explain the concept of the Trinity in 10 words or less.
A really good politician can point the way toward the truth on a bumper sticker, but the voters are going to have to do some work, too.
This is an election year. It is not the season of statesmanship or of honesty. It is a time for politics and getting elected.
It is politics as usual — but at least we don’t live in Zimbabwe.
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