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Why Do Voters Hate Incumbents? Glenn Greenwald - salon.com > > < > http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/05/19/establishment/index.html > > > > After last night's election > results<http://elections.firedoglake.com/2010/05/19/primary-upsets-anti-establishment-triple-play/>, > there's no doubt that the electorate has contempt for Washington incumbents > and the political establishment. Virtually every media account dutifully > recites the same storyline -- that these results reflect an "anti-incumbent" > mood -- but virtually none of these stories examines the reasons for that > "mood." Why do Americans, seemingly regardless of party affiliation or > geographic location, despise the political establishment? > > One reason why media mavens seem reluctant, even unable, to grapple with > this question is because it so plainly falls outside their familiar, > comfortable narratives. Contrary to efforts earlier this year to depict the > problem as one aimed at Democratic incumbents due to the unpopular health > care plan and the growing "tea party" movement, Republican voters -- as > demonstrated in Florida, Utah, and last night in Kentucky -- clearly hate > their own party's leadership at least as much as the animosity directed > toward Democratic incumbents. The trend is plainly trans-partisan and > trans-ideological, and the establishment political media has a very > difficult time understanding or explaining dynamics about which that is > true. > > So extreme is the anger toward the political establishment that not even > popular politicians have any impact on it. Despite the fact that he remains > quite popular with his state's GOP voters, Mitch McConnell's handpicked > candidate was slaughtered in Kentucky by a highly unconventional and > establishment-scorned Rand Paul. And just as Massachusetts voters did in > December when President Obama traveled there to plead with them to elect > Martha Coakley, only for them to reject those pleas and send Scott Brown to > the Senate, Democratic voters completely ignored Obama's vigorous support > for incumbent Senators Arlen Specter and Blanche Lincoln, sending the former > to ignominious defeat after 30 years, and forcing the latter into an > extremely difficult > run-off<http://twitter.com/chucktodd/status/14291143713>with Bill Halter (who > was recruited > by Accountability > Now<http://firedoglake.com/2010/03/01/accountability-now-announces-first-candidate-bill-halter/>, > an organization I helped found and continue to run). > > It makes perfect sense that the country loathes the political > establishment. Just look at its rancid fruits over the past decade: a > devastating war justified by weapons that did not exist; a financial crisis > that our Nation's Genuises failed to detect and which its elites caused with > lawless and piggish greed; elections that seem increasingly irrelevant in > terms of how the Government functions; grotesquely lavish rewards for the > worst > culprits<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/20/goldman-sachs-profits-bonuses>juxtaposed > with miserable unemployment and serious risks of having basic > entitlements (Social Security) cut for ordinary Americans; and a Congress > that continues to be owned, right out in the > open<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37220292/ns/business-washington_post/>, > by the very interests that have caused so much damage. The political > establishment is rotten to its core, and the only thing that's surprising is > that the citizenry's contempt isn't even more intense than it is. But > precisely because that dynamic so clearly transcends Left/Right or > Democratic/GOP dichotomies, little effort is expended to understand or > explain it. > > One of the most interesting and important questions is whether this > trans-partisan, anti-establishment anger can bring about some cracks in the > rigid partisan polarization that serves, more than anything else, to > preserve the status quo. Consider, for instance, that Rand Paul's campaign > included some serious questioning of the war in Afghanistan and that Sen. > Tom Coburn recently threatened to > filibuster<http://www.paltalknewsnetwork.com/node/3057>the $33.5 billion war > supplemental spending bill if it isn't independently > paid for, combined with the Democrats' realization that they will be forced > on their own to fund the > endless<http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/98305-dems-prepare-to-pass-war-spending-measure-without-gop-support>-- > and increasingly > ugly<http://chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/1970-creeping-terror-the-new-american-way-of-war-.html>-- > war in Afghanistan. Or consider the odd spectacle that numerous > Republicans <http://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/14250477932> are > beginning to take the > lead<http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/republican_darrell_issa_champion_of_miranda_rights.php>in > questioning<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/04/permission-needed-to-kill-american-terrorists/>and > even<http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmEyNmVmYjMyZWVhODQzYjVkNGQ5NDZiZDcxMmFjODc> > objecting > to<http://balkin.blogspot.com/2010/05/glen-beck-as-civil-libertarian-and-joe.html>the > Obama administration's efforts to further whittle away civil liberties > and vest itself with greater unchecked power. > > It's possible that the pervasive, trans-partisan anger can muddle, even > re-arrange, the rigid partisan divisions that prevent citizens of similar > interests from working together against the factions that control > Washington. One saw that in the alliance between progressives (such as Alan > Grayson and Bernie Sanders) and conservatives (such as Ron Paul) that led to > the enactment of the Audit the Fed bill, as well as in similar alliances > during the Bush years in opposition to the assaults on the Constitution > (such as the one forged by Al Gore and Bob > Barr<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600779.html>). > This isn't Broderian bipartisanship where the two parties' mix their > policies into a muddled, watered-down mish-mash of nothing for its own > sake. It's far more substantive than that: a refusal to allow ordinary > citizens to be divided (and thus weakened) along artificial tribal lines, > thereby enabling the establishment factions that feed at the Washington > trough to maintain their same power in unchallenged form. > > I'm not particularly optimistic about this possibility. The reality is > that the American Right is still the movement of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, > and Sarah Palin, really no different -- despite its "tea > party" re-branding -- than what spawned the Bush/Cheney extremism of the > last decade. And even Rand Paul, who some are trying to depict as a > crusading civil libertarian and anti-war advocate, ran on a > platform<http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/h-p/national-defense/>(as Scott > Brown did) of opposing the closing of Guantanamo, the use of > civilian trials for accused Terrorists, and the granting of visas to people > from numerous Muslim countries. Many of the key ignorant and primitive > orthodoxies of modern conservatism are as strong as ever. Other than some > (extremely hypocritical and opportunistic) war questioning and some anger > over the growing corporate-Government overlap, I have a very hard time > looking at the American Right and finding much cause for optimism about any > of what's taking place over there. > > Still, it's hard not to be encouraged by the disgust which the citizenry > clearly has for the political establishment regardless of party, as well as > the resulting (and increasing) fear and confusion on the part of the > political class. This sort of citizenry anger can re-arrange political > alignments and explode political orthodoxies in fundamental and > unpredictable ways. There is, to be sure, a risk in that, but there is a > far greater risk in simply allowing the destructive political status quo to > linger in unchanged form for much longer. > > > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
