Not a Prize Fight

Electing a President

National elections are presented in the media as personal combats rather than serious discussions about national government policy. We may find it hard to put down our score card and, if we have a ringside seat, wipe off some of the blood. 

The fact is that our government makes decisions that affect the lives of ourselves, our neighbors and our communities and a much wider world.

To be more than spectators at an election, we need to think carefully about several realities.

First, what any government at any time can accomplish is limited.

No central authority--Prime Minister, Monarch, President of a Federal system, Dictator—can accomplish more than a small part of their whole “project.”  And if they try for more, not only will they fail, but risk making things a lot worse. The history of the United States, is a history of the attempts and failures of Presidents to achieve their objectives.  They do affect change.  And at critical moments may “right the ship.” But we need to limit our expectations. In a Presidential election, you are voting for someone who will, at best, work with other parts of the government and be a forceful voice within their own branch of government to “shift the needle” in your preferred direction.  And you can hope that your choice, if elected, will not break too much in the china shops of lives in the process.

Second, single issue politics is far more likely a distraction, probably what people these days call “gas lighting” (a purposeful misdirection of attention), than an intelligent way to understand what is at stake in the election.

I feel more comfortable speaking about the historical record of the United States, but I would be very surprised if what I have to say is not a statement applicable to all modern democratic states.  Political science research bears it out.  We tend again and again to view one issue, or one cluster of related issues, as paramount, as the “reason” for our vote.  If you have a chance, read about the Free Silver movement in the 1890s. “Do not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

Government is a form of triage.  Lacking unlimited resources and time, government executives and legislators move amidst crises and opportunities, old problems and new, pressing immediate concerns and long-standing issues that will only fester and become more dangerous with time.  Issues that impinge on one another.  All this amid the natural infighting of people like ourselves who are balancing personal ambitions, emotional reactions and moral compasses.  We should want a President who can pivot at critical moments and attend to one crisis without abandoning attention to many others.

Single issue governments are likely to be a disaster.  Not least because the unintended consequences of “success” with a single issue may create new and greater threats in different directions. 

Third, when we elect a President, we elect a team of professional policy “experts,” men and women who, while having different ways of looking at problems and different ways of dealing with them, can work effectively together. 

Such expertise involves at least three important elements.  First, political skills, the knowhow of building effective coalitions and maneuvering through the “corridors of power.”  Second, experience with the outcomes of government initiatives.  In general, as I think Einstein said, doing the same thing and expecting to get a different result is largely wasted time and resources.  And third, a willingness to embrace new ideas (tentatively and with careful consideration) and to, perhaps reluctantly, lay to rest some of that “good-old-tried-and-true.”

I apologize if I have been too prescriptive in this analysis. It is just that I don’t see much “level-headed” thinking these days. We live in a forest, an ecosystem of constant change, of noise and clamor, of paths that lead back on themselves. Democracies are based on the hope, and not so foolish a hope, that we will see the trees.

As always I welcome comments.

As always, I hope that you will share this with others and get a conversation going.

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