Webster’s Dictionary provides several definitions for the word politics. One states that politics is, “The methods or tactics involved in managing a government or state.” In our Republic (we are not a democracy) we “hire” through the elective process individuals in whom we invest the power and entrust to manage the affairs of our Nation. The Constitution established and legally empowers two groups of those representatives to formulate and enact the laws by which we are governed. The two groups are the 100 Senators and the 435 members of the House of Representatives that serve in the Congress of the United States of America.
When we elect our representatives and send them to Washington we expect them to work collectively to provide long-term solutions for our Nation’s problems. We expect them to balance the demands of competing interests and then to reach a consensus on the best courses of action to solve problems. We expect that the politics they engage in, the methods used to reach their collective decisions, will reflect honest debate and principled deliberation. Certainly not everyone will agree with the outcomes, but if the politics are honest then we have a duty to support those outcomes.
That is what we expect. But, what do we get? Instead of counsels that engage in honest debate and principled deliberation we get counsels whose members make shortsighted decisions based on the imperative need to win the next election. The debate in those counsels fall into the chasm of the partisan divide.
The process of governing in the United States has been corrupted by the allure of politics as a career. For candidates and their political parties the need to win the next election dominates every aspect of politics. Self-serving interests and self-aggrandizement have supplanted the interests of constituents and the Nation and is what passes for “public service”.
For members of Congress the legislative challenge should be to pursue long-term solutions to our Nation’s problems. However, in the pursuit of long Congressional careers their focus becomes much more limited in scope and more self-serving in nature. Their real challenge becomes making decisions that maximize their chances of being re-elected. Savvy career politicians are very successful at computing the political calculus which results in their being elected time and time again. Being elected time and time again allows them to ascend the seniority ladder and to attain the ultimate prize, leadership positions within the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. As leaders of their party they have the power to control the members of their party and perhaps more importantly, the party’s message.
Once members have ascended to the positions of leadership within their respective parties their attention shifts to the partisan political battles to be the majority party. They must still win their individual elections, but being incumbents in positions of power makes their seats relatively “safe”. The ultimate prize for the parties’ leadership is to be the leadership of the majority party.
And why is it so important to be the leadership of the majority party? Power! Congress operates as a pure democracy in which the majority party is in control and has the power. The leadership of the majority party controls the legislative agenda. Also, their party holds the powerful committee chairmanships which control the execution of that agenda. From their position of power the majority party imposes its will on the minority party and the Nation. Legislative proposals reflect the narrow ideological perspective of the majority party leadership.
The minority party leadership and the members of the minority party are relegated to an inferior position and can only respond to the dictates of the majority party and the majority party’s legislative proposals. As a result, debate on a proposal devolves into a single argument along the partisan divide. For the majority party leadership legislative success equates to political advantage which supports their strategies to maintain the majority and retain their hold on the seats of power.
The minority party leadership controls their party’s response to the majority party’s agenda. For them the political calculus revolves around their party’s opposition to the majority’s actions. Politically they cannot allow the majority party to succeed and must oppose their agenda. Their goal is to garner as much political advantage as they can for their party with the ultimate goal of becoming the majority party. The leadership of the minority party always wants to be the majority party leadership – they want the power! They want to be in control so they can then impose their will on the other party and the Nation.
How does political careerism corrupt the process of governing in this country? Instead of good policies and laws we get knee jerk reactions to the crisis du jour and short-sighted policy decisions that are intended to pacify voters. Long-term solutions are sacrificed on the altar of doing what is politically expedient to win the next election. To enjoy long careers members must make decisions based on the short-term goal of winning the next election. After all, that is what best serves their interests. Also, long-term solutions fall victim to doing what is politically expedient to win the majority. To attain or maintain the majority, party leaders must engage in partisan politics and partisan messaging to maximize the short-term political gain for its members in order to help those members win their elections. After all, that is what best serves their interests.
Every aspect of our political culture facilitates this corruption. The very mechanisms of Congress directly support it. The Constitution empowers the Senate and House to establish the rules that govern their respective operations. Both chambers have established rules that favor the majority party and that increase the self-aggrandizing allure of political careerism. The seniority system allows for the ascension to leadership positions based on continued re-election. The spoils system allows party leadership to reward those members who have demonstrated loyalty to the party. Committee organization ensures that the majority party is in control and has the power.
Other factors include the power of incumbency, the quashing of any challenge to the Democrat vs. Republican monopoly on the entire political process, the media and voting patterns. Perhaps the most important factor in this category is money – money for campaigns.
To restore integrity to the governing process We the People of the United States must resume our rightful place as the ultimate guardians of that process. We must no longer allow the short-sighted and self-serving interests of politicians to further erode the long-term health and strength of our Nation. We must find and elect candidates whose definition of “public service” really is about, and genuinely involves serving the public. Candidates whose interests to serve their constituents and the Nation supersedes the desire for self-aggrandizement and power. Candidates that recognize the corrupting influences of our political system and how our political culture facilities that corruption.
We must find and elect candidates that will serve in accordance with the Founding principle of the citizen legislator – one who serves for limited periods of time and then returns to private life to be subject to the laws they helped pass. The Constitution does not contain term limit provisions for Congress, Congress has been unsuccessful in imposing term limits on itself and the Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot legally impose term limits on federal legislators. Therefore, it becomes our responsibility to counter the corrupting influences of political careerism and corruption of the governing process in the United States.
In the “Declaration of Independence”, Thomas Jefferson stated the Nation was going to provide “new Guards for their (its) future Security.” It is time for a new revolution in which we find New Guards, citizen legislators, to provide for our future security. As we find and elect ever increasing numbers of New Guards our future will indeed be more secure. Overtime, the allure of political careerism and its corrupting influences would fade and the process of governing would no longer fall victim to the all encompassing necessity of winning that next election.
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