For Now, Liberals Own It
Opinion pieces can be helpful. If not for pointing to something we all missed an opinion piece can unearth worthy debate resting just below the surface. Rather than focusing on how the GOP can stop delivering victories to Obama voters may have fallen victim to a common mistake. One which plagues the electorate on more occasions than we would like to admit.
Broadcast and print media outlets dealing with politics rely on differences between the two major parties for much of their content. That Americans are more polarized in their views on public affairs has been a staple of political commentary for some years now. How about a reality check? Start with the excerpt from a July 1, 2009 opinion piece presented below.
The ‘perception’ described above can be interpreted to mean ‘do something even if it IS wrong.’ It is not uncommon for American voters to be offered two candidates for any office that represent a choice of selecting the lesser of two evils. It is not uncommon for the available candidates for any elected office to be nothing more than the two who raised the most money. And it is not uncommon for voters to choose the ‘other party’ when things have not gone the way they might like.
Most of the time it would be fair to say POLS offer candidates who support their political objectives which may have no relationship to doing the right thing. And voters may be selecting a candidate based on their perception of which one will benefit them personally. Sometimes that is referred to as voting your wallet. Neither strategy is concerned with principles or doing the right thing. So who are we trying to kid?
Lobbyists are probably the only group who benefits no matter who is elected. Most of those who favor one party over the other likely view their wallets being stuffed if the outcome is successful. And a few of us may actually vote on principle given the limited choices we are offered.
So all the talk about the GOP fall from grace and the unfavorable view toward the party held by a majority of voters is oversold. By political standards some election results have been stunning defeats but the math does not support such a notion. Unless one candidate wins by a margin of 2 or 3 to one all it takes is a small swing in the other direction to make it a close race even for political analysts. Most election results are not much more than a fifty fifty proposition and legislative outcomes are quite similar.
What is of more consequence only recently happened to the GOP and may in fact happen to the Dems if history provides any clues. The 2006 midterms emphasize the consequences of one party mismanaging their majority status. Now that the Dems hold that fragile advantage and own the ‘perceived’ responsibility for success or failure in Washington 2010 could be the next sea change in American politics.
Stanford Matthews
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