Thursday, October 07, 2010

A Man Believes What He Want To Believe

The alternative title is Why Political Parties Can't Stay In Power. The short version? Loss of contact with reality. But there is also a longer version.

"When you win an election," says political scientist Bill Galston, "you are always inclined to believe you won for the reasons you wanted to win."

In other words, you believe you won for the big stuff, not just because the voters didn't like the other guy.

And when you win with a large majority, it's more enticing. If the political control is universal -- as in, the White House as well as both houses of Congress -- the power is an aphrodisiac, feeding both the agenda and political ambition
I believe when the Republicans get in they will come to believe their own press releases and decide they are in charge of remaking the culture of the nation in their own image. And before you know it they are starting to slide. And then it is off the cliff time. And so we go 'round. Careening from one party to another in the hopes that some day one of the parties will get it.

And the winner will be the first party to figure out that Americans want government to Leave Us Alone. Or stated another way: Mind You Own Business. But who goes into politics to do as little as possible? It is an unnatural act. I must say though it would be really good to see all 535 Congress Critters together in Congress performing that unnatural act on live TV (or streaming over the 'net - as the case may be).

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