OffTopic: US politics

[Chris Bates]

Going WAY off topic FoFP wrote:

> I wondered if they do negative campaigning because they're naturally
> mean guys or if it's due to it having proven out that this is the most
> effective way of campaigning. If the latter then it's really the
> electorate who are to blame.

Politics has to be the art of compromise, issues or never black and white,
but most (if not all) politically active people are very committed to one
particular belief. Usually this belief will be in an area such as economics
or social justice, occassionally it will simply be rank prejudice or hatred.
Their world view will be coloured by this basic belief from an early age
(look how many of 'em become politically active as children), and they
surround themselves with like-minded individuals who reinforce these
views and beliefs. By the time that they run for office many otherwise
good people are convinced that their opponents are the spawn of Beelzebub.

They think that *the other lot* are lying scum who're out to presonally
discredit them so they try to get their retaliation in first. This is
perpetuated by the media, where journalists know far less than they pretend
and are driven by relentless short-termism. The whole cycle ratchets up
over time and you end up with the ludicrous situation where opposition
politicians here can't see the Scott report before publication in case
they leak it!

In addition the politicians now use *focus groups* which are where the
lowest-common denominator thrives. A 10 second attack-ad will get a
better response than 30 minutes of considered analysis (people are too
ill-informed/ill-educated to follow the analysis). Not a new phenomenon
- Dickens writes about similar happenings in18th/early 19th century
politics in *Pickwick Papers*.

> Like us, it looks like you don't really get the option of electing
> anyone a reasonable person would want to have any control over their
> lives.

The only person who can control my life is me. Politicians crave power,
our only hope is to ensure that all they are allowed to do is set a
framework within which we can live.

> Anyway. Since this is so off topic and since there are politics junkies
> and folks who like to debate here, maybe I could fly a kite for setting
> up a separate mailing list to cover the US campaign in particular and
> politics in general?

Excellent idea, provided it doesn't descend to the level of the usenet
politics groups!


Chris