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Thinking In The Long Term |
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One aspect of the commentary surrounding the congressional elections that bothers me is that intense speculation about what will happen in 2008 has already begun. I don't fault anyone - participants or spectators - for thinking in the long-term. But it saddens me that permanent campaigning has become an unavoidable feature of American politics. I wonder how legislators or executives are going to be able to do their job in an atmosphere where they are marketing themselves for the next election the moment the results from the last one come in. We worry enough about accountability and integrity in our government as it is, what with corporate influence over government decisions, financial and moral scandals, and a general lack of ability on the part of the populace to take a role in decision-making in our country. Now we have to add to that a fear that our "leaders," liberal or conservative, have stopped paying attention to their work entirely and have devoted themselves entirely to campaigning.
One consequence of this kind of long-term thinking is that it destroys our ability to indulge in another type of long-term thought - the painstaking work of organizing political alternatives to our two-party system and the minimal representation it offers to the diverse constituencies that exist in our country. The fear of Bush, and of conservative control of America, has meant that a lot of people who would love to see more political parties operating at a stronger level in America have bought into a mentality that depicts every election as a last stand against the Republicans. In other words, people who may have voted Green or Socialist or whatever in 2000, 2004, and 2006 have been persuaded to vote Democrat - even though the Democracts no longer represent them - because they have seen these elections as emergency situations wherein a vote for the Democrats is the only conceivable way to stave off an America where abortions and flag-burning are illegal, where our government wages more wars that the majority of Americans don't support, and where American children are forced to pray in school. But if every election is an emergency, necessitating everyone to the left of the Democrats to vote Democrat, then there is even less chance that a third, fourth, or fifth party - a truly viable one - might emerge and make a real difference in American politics. 2008 may end up looking the same: another "emergency" election. Then perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Bush administration will be that it crippled the development of a multiparty system in America during all 8 years of its rule.
If we buy into the long-term thinking that only after Democrats regain control of this country can we all breathe easy, then we lose our own ability to think in the long-term - at the very least, to "throw away our votes" in the short-term so that we can create a multiparty system in the future. Would-be third parties must, of course, take on this responsibility themselves above all, and begin building the organizational infrastructure that will let them succeed, not tomorrow, or in 2008, but in 2020, 2028, or later. Real change takes time. Anyone interested in the development of a multiparty system in America would be wise to look to the Republicans themselves, more specifically the neocons - who painstakingly built up a grass-roots organization for years, beginning at the local level, before they ever got Reagan or Bush or Bush into office.
