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Can Congressional Politics be Fixed? [1]
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Date: 2022-12-17
I think the answer is YES, although very unlikely within the next few decades. The present political system protects the interests of our political parties, current officeholders, and major donors of political money. These three factions have created a mutual support alliance which is nearly impervious to change. This alliance promotes the interests of its members, and these have little overlap with the interests of the nation or the people. We are stuck with this curse, and a way to free ourselves is hard to imagine.
PEOPLE (VOTERS)
The base of the problem lies with the people. We are not any better at politics than we are at math and science.
We humans find it easy to believe in something absurd. The following is from a March 2022 YouGov opinion poll:
+ A secret group of elites controls world governments - 40% believers
+ Top Democrats in government are part of a pedophile ring - 30%
+ Vaccines cause autism - 20%
(
https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/30/which-groups-americans-believe-conspiracies)
Not to mention: a majority of Americans believe that God's list of correct beliefs, rituals and behaviors comes down to us from a wandering preacher executed by the Romans and Jews 20 centuries ago. The earliest known writings (in Greek) date from 40-70 years afterwards.
Absurd beliefs fill a human need. We want to be part of a great cause or exceptional group. Cynical politicians know how to exploit this human weakness to get folks to believe in them and the political recipes they offer. Our nature is to be vulnerable to this. We are natural believers and joiners. This is popularly called "tribalism" and may even be a genetic trait - a survival advantage 100,000 years ago.
Political policy is complicated. Very few voters get into the details enough to really understand the problems and the options for improvement. Most folks find this boring. Political campaigns therefore focus on simple slogans like "Joe Blow will work for the people, not the elites", and they will distort the records and motives of their opponents, like "they want to teach our children to hate America". The norm is cheap lies that appeal to the gut instead of the mind. Politicians know how to fit their message to the needs of the voters. Ignorance and stupidity are not easily cured. Democracy in America (or most anywhere) is a train wreck.
Winning an election is a matter of getting people to vote who are not very interested in politics. They need something to get them fired-up. Political parties play the major role here, which is described below.
POLITICIANS
A Wikipedia article on politicians states: In the popular image, politicians are thought of as clueless, selfish, manipulative, dishonest, incompetent and corrupt, taking money in exchange for goods or services, rather than working for the general public good. Politicians in many countries are regarded as the "most hated professionals".
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician#Characteristics)
I would not try to prove this, but I think you will agree: politicians are typically egoists striving for social prominence. They want to be revered and feared. Trump is the penultimate example, but some of this sociopathy (or maybe lots?) is present in almost all politicians, IMO. They are not working for us, but for themselves. This is a fundamental problem that cannot be changed, so we must look for changes in the political system that can prevent selfish motives from steering all political efforts. This means removing or reducing the selfish motivations. This may not be as hopeless as it seems.
What are the main goals of a politician? I submit: it is to get elected and re-elected. This need overrides more honorable goals, such as promoting the common welfare. Recent history has demonstrated this quite well: How many (R) politicians will publicly criticize Trump? Almost none, even though they despise Trump privately and acknowledge that he is incompetent, dangerous, and works only for himself. They fear losing the next primary election and losing office. It seems they would accept great damage to the nation as long as they can personally continue their political careers.
How does a politician get elected and re-elected? For this, a politician needs political money. The average House campaign in 2022 cost about $20 million. This money is used to saturate TV with political ads containing simple-minded slogans and distortions, and accusing the opponent of being socialist or godless or unpatriotic, or whatever sells best according to opinion polls and focus groups. Thoughtful policy proposals are missing, because these are hard to formulate and sell to an audience that needs answers easy to understand. A thoughtful analysis of problems and solutions is no vote-getter. It seems our electorate is ignorant enough and gullible enough for such cheap and dishonest politics to be quite effective.
PARTIES
Let's look at our two political parties, how they campaign, what image they try to project for themselves and their opponents, and how they manipulate and motivate both politicians and voters.
Republicans cast Democrats as godless relativists without morals or principles. Democrats promote abortion, gay lifestyles, weak law enforcement, leniency for criminals, and anti-Americanism. They are anti-business and pro-socialism. They want to welcome the world's indigents and do nothing to stop illegal immigration. They will bankrupt the country with social programs. They will give money to developing nations where it is stolen and wasted. They care more about trees than protecting good jobs. They want to forbid gun ownership so that Government can more easily dominate us.
Democrats cast Republicans as plutocrats, religious bigots, nationalists, and racists. Republicans want more religion and more patriotism (nationalism) in our schools. They want a government that promotes Christian religion. They believe that American culture, lifestyle, and morals are superior. They believe that gun ownership must not be limited, not even military weapons. They cry about self-defense and the threat of government tyranny, but the real reason is money from the NRA. Republicans promote the interests of corporations and the rich: tax breaks, subsidies, weak regulation and trade barriers. They oppose consumer and environmental protections, because these increase business costs and make business leaders more liable for unethical practices. Most recently, Republicans are cast as crazy extremists believing in QAnon and massive election fraud.
The parties spend $-billions in each campaign cycle to promote these images of opposing parties and politicians. It is no wonder that America is divided into opposing tribes at war with each-other. It is no wonder that politicians must vilify the opposing party to remain true to their own party and voters. Political parties exist to promote themselves. They do this by promising what they cannot deliver, and by vilifying the opposition.
Political parties play a key role in a politician's work life and political success. A member of Congress gets their power and prestige from their party. The party leaders hand out committee assignments. They stage political events with candidate participation. Getting benefits for a politician's district depends on party support to get such gifts included in legislation. Party leaders allocate PAC money to members facing an election challenge. Party elites also help with direct campaigning. PACs can spend unlimited funds to promote causes that are not (officially) tied to a candidate, but promote a candidate's position and attack the other party. This is why politicians have more loyalty to their party than to the people or the nation.
A primary goal of parties is to be in control of Congress, allowing them to set the agenda and pass legislation beneficial to their political constituency and donors. To this end, the primary method is to destroy the opposition party. Political issues are distorted and public opinion manipulated to make the opposition party look bad. This is what parties do, first and foremost. The problems of the nation and the people are given lip service but are not taken seriously. Parties are the primary vehicles for corruption of elections and legislation.
IMPROVING THE SYSTEM
Before any fundamental changes are politically possible, American politics must become even more corrupt and dangerous than already made clear by Trump, his MAGA mob, and most (R) politicians too craven to oppose him. Current officeholders are unlikely to support any of the changes proposed below, so they would need to be grandfathered out: changes would apply to their successor, after they retire or lose re-election. This would facilitate doing something good for the nation without compromising their own welfare.
Politicians get the political money needed for election from PACs, representing the interests of billionaires and corporations. They want lower taxes and weaker regulation to reduce business costs and penalties for illegal or unethical practices. They want subsidies and protection from competition and liabilities. Congress takes money from business groups to create laws written by lobbyists. This is completely legal in the USA, because our Supreme Court has decided that unlimited political money is the equivalent of free speech. Only in America. To summarize, a politician's #1 goal is to get elected, and their #2 goal is to get the political money needed for #1. The common welfare is at best #3. The system is so inherently corrupt that it is a miracle that it has lasted 230 years.
If there is any hope of achieving a better system, a system focused on the needs of the nation and the people instead of personal ambition and financial interests, the system needs fundamental change. A politician's need for political money must be reduced.
I do not see a way to get more honest and ethical persons to run for office, but I do see a way to influence their motivations once they have been elected for the first time: make it impossible to get re-elected to the same office, and make congressional terms much longer, like 10 years or more (with a possibility of recall). The effect could be profound: once in office, political money would no longer be needed. A politician would have room to consider the needs of the people. A congressional office would be a career instead of a permanent election campaign. Money may still dominate who gets elected a first time, but this influence would vanish thereafter (except for outright bribes, risking prison).
Elections should be distributed over time so that a small fraction of Congress is elected each year (e.g. 10% for 10-year terms). The current 100% re-election of the House every two years is really stupid: the campaign and the need for political money never stops.
Taking political money away from current officeholders could make the following additional proposals for improvement politically possible.
Something that would be hugely beneficial is the elimination of political parties. The founding fathers envisioned government without parties. Washington warned against them, fearing "the baneful effects of the spirit of party" (i.e. tribalism). We have ample evidence of how damaging political parties can be. We also had this evidence 230 years ago.
Some simple rules changes could weaken parties and give individual politicians more independence. Sitting members of Congress should not be allowed to raise political money and distribute it to favored candidates. Committee assignments should be done via voting within Congress, without direction from party leaders (complex but doable). Offices like majority leader and party whip should not exist. Voter ballots should list names, not parties. There should be no party platforms. Each politician running for office should state the goals they would pursue in office, with no connection to a party platform. Ad hoc groupings within Congress, in addition to the existing committee system, could work to get legislation finalized and passed, much like the rare bipartisan bills are passed today. Party-based primary elections should be replaced by a free-for-all election with ranked-choice ballots. One election would suffice, but a primary election to select two candidates followed by a main election would also work.
Congressional districts should not be drawn by state legislatures (gerrymandering). How such a self-serving stupidity got started is hard to imagine. An alternative would be a committee of retired judges and professors, chosen by the state supreme court. Note that single terms of office in state legislatures would remove officeholders' need for gerrymandering to protect themselves or their party.
Political contributions should be limited to something reasonable for individuals, less than $500. Bundlers (PACs) should be illegal. This would help with the problem that candidates need lots of money to get elected the first time. They would get less money, and from individuals instead of PACs.
Google and Facebook have corrupt business models. They monitor what their users read, write and search online, to build a personality profile they can use to stoke prejudices with (fake) news feeds that increase 'engagement' (rage and hate) and bring in more advertising revenue. Facebook offers tools to connect cynical manipulators (and Russians) to their most gullible targets. Our laws and our political leaders allow this, because they see advantages for themselves. Collection of personal information should be forbidden by law. Google and Facebook would have less profit. Sad.
Corporations seek profit from business models that do great damage to society (Oxycontin, Dieselgate, Facebook, Fox News, Google, Philip Morris, Info Wars, Breitbart, Monsanto, Exxon ...). Big Pharma and others pay for "research" that falsely promotes the safety and efficacy of their products. They advertise with false or exaggerated claims. Our laws and our political leaders allow this because they get paid to look the other way. Regulations and penalties for fraud must be strengthened.
Above all, presidential leadership is needed to push the country off of the current stable equilibrium of corruption. The last strong leader we had was FDR. We may have to wait decades for a leader able to motivate real change, by appealing to the grassroots to "throw the bums out".
[END]
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