By Jack Lee
This article ranks right up there in the top 10 issues I have with big government….
Thomas Jefferson wrote, The government is best which governs least, and that sentiment was thematic in all of his writing about the role of government. That’s hardly the democrats party and one could argue it’s not even the republicans. Both sides have broken the faith with the people and their own founding principles. Since I happen to lean to the conservative republican side of things, I’m disheartened my party has strayed so far from it’s own professed values. Honest democrats must think the same of their party.
The two party system is now seriously broke, thus fulfilling another truism, this time spoken by our nations first president, George Washington. George thought that big political party’s would be our ruin. As he neared his resignation, George Washington wrote a letter to the nation and warned of the danger of political parties, and how they would turn the government from a group of people interested in their nation’s future to a rabble mob controlled by power hungry professional politicians.
I believe we have long ago reached a point of diminishing returns when it comes to power hungry politicians and more recently their professional counsultants/managers/staffers taking over our government and infiltrating our two big partys have had their significant impact. For all intents and purposes these crafty pro’s do not exist in 3rd party’s, not because 3rd party’s lack good ideas or leaders, but because 3rd party candidates are on the outside looking in. The have so little influence in anything political they just aren’t worth infiltrating. That’s a good thing in a way, but also very telling of the overwhelming dominance of the two main party’s that makes up the rules that keeps out the competition. Reminds me of the school yard teacher saying, “If you kids can’t play fair then you can’t play at all.”
Alright, you know who the power hungry politicians are, now let me be clear on who the [professionals] are that back them up and have the lion’s share of influence over outcome. I am talking about those consultants and staffers who have carved out long, influential and well paying careers in politics without ever being elected to anything.
These partisan camp followers belong to both parties in great numbers because it’s a darn good paying job that carries a whole lot of influence! It’s tremendous influence… that can create personal fortunes for themselves at the expense of the taxpayer.
Evolving over time elections have been turned over to the scientifically oriented pro’s that have learned how to manage what you perceive in a candidate more than the substance of the real candidate or even the truth! They craft hot button issues and party platforms. We call it spin when they do in the media and we call it winning when they get to you with carefully crafted psychological schmoozing. So, “they” either influence or control your vote and it’s done so cleverly that you probably don’t even know it!
They also control by proxy the agenda of the two party system hierarchy; these pro’s have learned that by putting themselves into positions of partisan authority within the system they can manipulate huge numbers of voters and thus lobby for their own career-minded agendas. You will find these political operatives working their way up from the grass roots to the highest ranks of federal politics. They are frequently the employed staffers for politicians, which means they are ironically employed by the taxpayer they too frequently deceive in their zeal to keep their boss in politics. They must protect the goose that lays their gold eggs…this much is totally understandable, but I don’t have to agree with their Machiavellian tactics!
Their duty is clear…first get their candidate elected, and then keep that candidate in office…at all costs! Simple, yet fraught with dirty tricks. This is all wrapped around their serving their self-interests long before the interests of the party and the interests of the people. And their goes the country… and you wonder why we have all this voter frustration?
Government vis–vis the paid political operatives run the show from that lowly county central committee right up to national party level. It’s a dangerous, stealthy and deceptive M-O and it works! It’s also ruthless and contrary to the democratic process when taken to the extreme. This is how the two big political machines have been slowly co-opted from within by this shadowy force of consultants and career staffers. This has had the destructive effect of disenfranchising many good voters fed up with the mudslinging and dirty politics that could only be devised by professionals doing what it takes to win! It gets worse… they now have resorted to controlling your vote through science, using proven psychological methods, the right lingo, the right colors, the hot buttons, the right timing, and all this is underscored by a lack of ethical restraint replaced by doing whatever it takes to win.
The government is not in danger of being dominated by staffers and consultants …it is dominated by them and too many voters can’t even fathom it! It’s just too abstract to register with Joe Six-pack, yet, it is true and voter ignorance is their mandate to rule as they will.
They form that great insider force that keeps their jobs in politics secure even as politicians come and go, even as party’s power may ebb and flow. And with each successive generation of new politician that is forced to relying on their guidance, they gain even more power. And so it goes, on and on, the cycle can’t be broken.
This is the culmination of what Washington feared most. It’s a tragic situation for the democratic process that I have no clear answer for, because these hacks are now too entrenched and indispensable to the two parties and to any candidate with the big bucks it will take to run for high office. You just can’t get there without the professional staffers. Candidates, and thus government, cant survive without them because the other side will take full advantage, its a Catch 22 situation.
NOTE: Some might fault my timing for this article, but I can think of no better time to tell the truth than just before our biggest election. However, it won’t advantage either side, because this is a mutual slap on the wrist for both big party’s that have allowed this nonsense to happen.