The Political Calculation

"If it weren't for lies, there wouldn't be any politics" - Will Rogers

 

Some recent social media conversations between anti-monopolist Matt Stoller and anti-punishment-bureaucracy Alec Karakatsanis demonstrate they have a feud of some kind, yet they're both fans of freedom from arbitrary coercion. Stoller writes to oppose the coercion of monopolies, Karakastanis opposes the coercion of the "punishment bureaucracy," as he calls it. They look like they should be allies, but they're quibbling about some political disagreement. Responding to an email query, Stoller said "It happens."

Unfortunately, quibbling--especially among the left-of-center--is common. Politicians are experts at avoiding the buzz saw of fights they deem lost or unnecessary, so they're frequently called "spineless." Stoller's comment: "People get mad at Chuck Schumer/Hakeem Jeffries for not fighting, but the passivity is pervasive in every major liberal institution, including many unions."
 

What's more, small "d" democracy absolutely requires compromise, even compromise between those who disagree. It's naive to expect ideological purity from any politician in a democracy.

This kind of rough-and-ready disagreement / compromise is baked into the democracy cake. It's not going to change no matter who is in power, unless of course we have the dictatorship--and a dictatorship of the oligarchs appears to be the way public policy is happening now.

 

Ralph Nader has been so frustrated by this he's sent out an appeal to readers asking what else he can do since federal public policy makers won't even return his phone calls, much less do something constructive.

 

So, to this writer, anyway, it looks like some kind of dislocation or catastrophe that's impossible to deny--a war, a depression, an environmental breakdown--is what we're left with to break this frustrating deadlock. The big question is whether our so-called "democracy" can handle it. After all, the Princeton study demonstrating that the US has an oligarchy, not a representative democracy, is more than two decades old now. 

 

LBJ is a perfect example of how confusing political calculations can be. He literally stole his Senate seat and pioneered the way the Senate majority leader (like Mitch McConnell) could railroad or delay legislation. He had multiple mistresses, was a crook in business. and a bigot with his fellow southerners. He was everything you could imagine is wrong with Donald Trump. The big difference: he grew up poor.

 

Yet LBJ was instrumental in passing Medicare, Civil Rights legislation, and the "war on poverty." These are considerable accomplishments. His nemesis: the Vietnam War, bungled so badly he couldn't get out (and Nixon / Kissinger apparently sabotaged the peace process). 

 

What to do? 

 

As Matt Stoller writes: "The thing about politics is that in order to have an impact, you have to know what’s going on." In addition to this blog, I recommend Naked Capitalism.