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It’s Not a Fucking Sports Match |
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Ever since the long, grueling, vicious race toward the 2008 presidential elections began, far too many of us have behaved like boozed-up sports fans sitting on our couches yelling at the TV.
But our politics is not a sports match, and the point of politics is not to root for your favorite team or breathlessly follow the fortunes of your favorite player.
We’re stimulated by the primary races because we’re sick of the Bush administration’s incompetence and stubbornness. But no matter how much hope a particular candidate may offer for fixing our system, the long campaign season is hurting our system and our country. Negative effects touch our lives at all levels.
Our Leaders Aren’t Doing Their Jobs
The majority of candidates hold high office. As early as March, observers were concerned about the high numbers of votes senators were missing. And though Media Matters recently highlighted biased reporting about Obama’s absences, the statistics they cite make me angry toward each candidate individually:
DEMOCRATS
Joseph Biden (D-Del.)
28.6%
Votes missed: 99Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
27.7%
Votes missed: 96Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
23.7%
Votes missed: 82Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
8.1%
Votes missed: 28REPUBLICANS
John McCain (R-Ariz.)
49.4%
Votes missed: 171Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)
36.1%
Votes missed: 125
Yes, Hillary does well in this comparison. But 8% is still unacceptable. No candidate should miss more than an absolute minimum of votes.
Edwards supporters, don’t think he’s off the hook either. The larger issue here is putting your money where your mouth is - don’t say you can lead, go ahead and lead already. A close friend of mine retains a special bitterness toward Edwards for the way he announced his campaign in New Orleans - idly mouthing words of leadership and hard work while other people labored in the background. We’ve had enough talk from our “leaders” - we need to see work and results.
Eating Up Resources
Campaign spending has been out of control for some time. The 2004 numbers - approximately $600 million - were disgusting. This campaign will be worse. In one troubling development, candidates are exporting their fundraising drives overseas - Giuliani has held fundraising events in Britain and as far away as Kazakhstan.
Certainly campaign spending will create some economic opportunities, but the money could be better spent.
More importantly, nothing is free in politics. The more money that comes in, the more money will have to be answered for. Even with Obama and Edwards’ pledges not to accept contributions from lobbyists, there is no way that the increase in campaign spending will not lead, directly or indirectly, to an increase in corporate control over our government.
Long Campaigning Prevents Discussion of Structural Problems
It is wonderful when people feel more politically engaged, optimistic and empowered. Supporting new leaders is important. But if we admit that our system is broken today, we should start fixing it today. We cannot let the presidential campaigns, no matter how exciting they are, fool us into accepting our leaders’ present cowardice and indecisiveness.
The deep-rooted problems in our society require complex strategies and bold solutions. Troublingly, the long campaign season has exacerbated candidates’ tendencies toward vagueness and caution, depriving us of a much-needed national discussion of structural issues. We need change that includes but goes beyond healthcare and an end to the war: we need drastic voting and campaign finance reform, an overhaul of our education and justice systems, serious attention to global warming, a reversal of irresponsible financial policies, and an aggressive inquiry into corporate power and wrongdoing. We do not have time to let these problems fester.
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Many of the candidates have important ideas. Yet the campaign, especially as filtered through the mainstream media, all too often becomes a personality game. Like with sports, we are seduced by the drama, the reversals, the screwups, the surprises, the charisma. Above all, we are distracted. We must monitor what candidates say and do, but not as fans and spectators. The campaigns are the starting point for a bigger conversation, not an end in themselves.
Candidates and elections are only the tip of the iceberg in politics. Much of politics is the daily struggles we all fight over our personal rights, freedoms, and responsibilities. Much of politics is the way we organize to meet the challenges in our communities. Much of politics is our struggle to hold our leaders accountable after they have been elected.
We cannot allow the campaign to turn us into sports fans yelling at the TV screen. The best way to prevent that is to broaden your definition of politics. Drop the personal allegiances and critically evaluate all the candidates. Brainstorm with your friends. Bring up politics in your church, synagogue, mosque, temple, meditation center, or boardroom. Attend marches and protests. Write and read. Volunteer. Reach across the political aisle wherever you find it exists. Listen. Watch documentaries. Correspond with an inmate. Go to your city council meetings. Organize.
If we as individuals and small groups increase our political activism and organization, our entire society will feel the effects, up to our leaders themselves. That is true change.
And whatever you do, don’t be fooled into thinking that screaming at the TV means you’re in the game.
Excellent post. Too often we are distracted by the dog and pony show mentality of these “campaigns”. It does become something of a sports match - though sadly not as popular. Many of the issues that you mention are eating away at the fiber of what makes this nation what it is. The only illness that I would add to that list (which your site is helping to address, thank you), is the laughable state of the corporate media and its titled vision of the world.
Thanks!
On the campaign spending point, the totals nearly doubled between 2000 and 2004. http://www.cfinst.org/data/pdf/President_RecPubIndiv_00-04.pdf
This has to end at some point.
The American people love the horse race. Which is fine, up to a point. I think we’ve reached it. There is too much money and too much time invested in the campaign, and not enough time spent on leading now. I can imagine a time where people will simply give up creating change in the moment, preferring to wait four years to elect a new leader. That’s a bad sign…