Politics Become a Long Game Show

Is Hilary Clinton running for president?

And is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie headed in the same direction?

Do Affordable Care Act issues give Republicans a strong position in the 2014 elections?

Is the three-way race for Maine governor heating up a year in advance?

All these questions point to the United States having probably the longest political campaigns of any established democracy in the world.

President Obama has more than three years remaining is his term, but the political media is already honed in on how Hilary is doing with African-American voters and Chris’ tight-wire act over a potentially hostile GOP right wing.

Next year, there will be congressional races in which almost all incumbents will be re-elected, thanks to the way their districts are gerrymandered.  But the media wants us to focus on both possible disaster and opportunity for either party to control the Congress taking office in 2015.

To be sure, almost every vote or statement by a politician is done with an eye to the next election.  In a country where democracy is expressed through elected representatives of the people, it’s not surprising that candidates continually play to the voters.

The trouble is that political posturing during long campaigns can take the place of governing.  If everybody takes positions based on what they think will please most voters, their conflicting views can amount to posturing that leads to government paralysis.

Even in polarized Washington, members of Congress can occasionally agree on some national issues.  But, unless there is a rare, clear message from the voters, almost nothing happens in the long run-up to the election.

For example, for the first time in many years, a renewed national farm policy cannot pass.   

The Democrats want to continue including both price supports for farmers and food stamps for the less fortunate.  The GOP wants to cut food stamps, but likes price supports.

So the traditional compromise on farm policy has become impossible, thanks to a bigger battle over the proper role of government.

Both sides agree on the need to resolve immigration policy.  And they agree that the Democrats have greater appeal to the growing bloc of Latino voters who care about this policy.

While GOP members of the U.S. House of Representatives have fewer Latinos in their districts than do Democrats, they have an eye on the presidential election in 2016.  While they seem to oppose a comprehensive policy, they may concede a few changes to the law.

In both cases, it’s likely that the country would be better served by the adoption of full-scale agriculture and immigration policies, based on compromise between the two parties.  In the long prelude to elections, that’s unlikely.

In Canada and in Europe, campaigns have been a matter of weeks not years.  Of course, there’s political posturing there, but governments can function closer to normal nearer to elections.

Before we try to figure out how to copy them, we had better recognize that foreign politicians are on the way to copying us.  American political consultants now enjoy a world market, and they guide their clients to start early in trying to manipulate public opinion.

Is there nothing that can be done about the transformation of the American political system into a permanent political campaign?

The best option would be for office holders to demonstrate leadership rather than trying to cater to what their polls tell them about public opinion.

Leading in this way may decrease the chances of being re-elected.  Too often, holding onto office becomes an end in itself.  Real term limits could free politicians to focus more on policy and less politics.

It’s not all the fault of politicians.  Television “news” programs are also responsible for the continuous campaigns.

Serious coverage of public issues used to be financed by the profits from popular game and reality shows.  But networks have cut back on coverage and expect the news operation to be profitable, so the ongoing political saga has become the new game show.

Television pundits have spent more time handicapping the effect of the Obamacare sign-up snafu on next year’s elections than they ever did in explaining the program.

The television outlets think more people will follow public affairs in the off-season if it looks like a sport or a game.  And they offer full employment for pundits, whose opinions now pass for facts.

 
Without help in understanding the issues, we are left with politicians and television catering to our prejudices, but not our concerns. We face the prospect of ever longer campaigns with little real content.