Politicians disappoint. They can’t help it. That’s just the way they are.
—Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for Ronald Regan
I don’t pay much attention to political campaigns… I tend to take political rhetoric with a grain of salt. But as I recall during the presidential campaign of 2008 people were strongly opposed to negative ads. They wanted the candidates to deal with issues. Now one wit says political advisors are telling their candidates
If you want to be positive, save your money and don’t run for office. Give your money to charity instead. If you want to win you have to attack the other fellow.
That strategy often works. Voters are angry, so a good chance of victory is to turn that anger against the incumbents. The incumbents, of course, say the newcomers would be even worse.
As I said, I don’t pay much attention to political rhetoric. But I do pay attention to actions. So I’m encouraged that one of my own Senators is working with other freshmen Senators (he was elected in 2008) to reform the Senate itself. They’re trying to restrict congressional raises and eliminate practices such as earmarks for private corporations. That is the sort of action that will get my future vote. And I hope some of the newcomers will join that effort.
What about you? Do you think this year’s elections will result in helpful changes?
I don’t know if there will be helpful changes or not.
This year, for the first time ever, I wrote to both of our Senators expressing my dissatisfaction with the way the health care bill was being handled. Their responses didn’t make me any happier.
I’m an independent. I voted for Obama. I believe universal health care is an achievable and worthy endeavor.
There’s something fishy smelling, though, when the House passes a 1000+ page health care bill that is so fresh from the printer that there’s not even a completely collated copy in the chamber when the bill is passed. I still do not believe that many — if any — of those voting for it really knew what was in it.
And then, in order to be able to pass anything, the Senate passed the same smelly bill, since they no longer had a filibusterer proof majority.
And health care is only one of the issues that have angered the electorate.
Only one of the two Senators I contacted is up for reelection. The polls show her way behind he challenger. She’s already resorting to negative advertising. Her challenger, currently in the House of Representatives, isn’t even running any ads yet.
I’ll be interested to see what responses you get. We’ve just endured an election here in Oz – almost entirely negative. The result should be known in the next day or so. It will be interesting as it will be a government who is a minority governing with the support of independents. Rare in Australia where the parties are horrifying dominant (far more so than in the US or Britain).
Mike,
I agree with you about the health bill. The system is sick. The Senator I was talking about, Tom Udall, is also trying to do away with the filibuster. He’s a Democrat and is going against the leadership of his party. The leadership wants to be able to filibuster against the Republicans if they regain power. Udall says he’s working for the good of the Senate and for the American people, not just for the Democratic party. I’m not counting him out yet.
I also thought it was encouraging that Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent in Alaska who campaigned that she brought home the bacon/pork for Alaska, lost the primary. The voters were more concerned about the national debt and economy than their own privilege.
Evan,
California will be trying something different next year. They’ll have an open primary and have the runoff between the top two candidates, regardless of party. That should give the moderates and independents more clout, I would think. The government has been hamstrung because of the polarization between the two parties.
The problem here is the extreme elements of both parties tend to decide the candidates, and the majority of the voters are more moderate and often don’t like their choices. I’ll be curious to see if California’s new system helps.
I’ll be looking out for it.
Attacking the incumbent seems to be a popular election strategy the world over. It must be difficult trying to live up to the expectations you have created.
Not being an American, I would rather not comment directly on the questions posed by you. I am however impressed with the initiative taken by your Representative Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty. Their first book by Bruce Fein, American Empire is a fascinating read for all thinking people in democracies. I have been reading a great deal about the American democracy in the recent past, and find a lot of similarities in our two systems. Law makers abdicating in favour of the executive and pressure groups influencing policy are now common to both our countries. We also have the unsightly specter of massive corruption here, which perhaps has not assumed such overt proportions there. Yes, correction is needed badly in our country and from what you say, in yours too.
When Rummuser commented about corruption in the US a strange word sprang into my mind, “Haliburton” – could anyone explain this strange phenomenon?
Same with Rummuser. As an Indonesian I do not have enough data to comment further on this topic.
However, I noted one changes which it so much impressed me was a black people can become a President of America. This shows the true democracy has been running in America and admirably has been answered the skin color issue to the politicians outside America.
Hopefully you do not mind if I put the link of my awe to your country’s changes, at once as INNUENDO for others to think of it.
http://love-ely.blogspot.com/2008/11/president-barack-obama-musing-from-usa.html
My theory is that the outcome of elections is limited to two options: Unhelpful change or deadlock. We can always pray for a miracle.
gaelikaa,
Yes, attacking one’s opponents and over-promising are two of the favorite strategies. The second one is why Peggy Noonan says politicians are bound to disappoint.
Rummuser,
I agree that corruption here is not as overt as it is in India.
One of the things I’m studying at the moment is the history of our constitution. Our government is far from perfect and needs reforming, but it is still a miracle that it works as well as it does.
Evan,
Former Vice President Dick Cheney had been CEO of Halliburton and a lot of people think that company received a lot of money from the U. S. government because of that connection. Money that didn’t achieve the results promised.
tikno,
Thank you for including the link. I agree with your comment and post. 🙂
Looney,
Yes, I think praying might be a very good idea. 🙂
Politicians are smart enough to know exactly what they are saying. And dumb enough to keep on saying it!
Eduardo,
They just do what they think will get them elected.