For better or worse, government defines the environment in which all business takes place, and averagists need to understand why that is and what’s driving today’s chaotic dysfunction.
First things first: If you are expecting me to make some sort of declaration about my personal political beliefs, you’ll be sadly disappointed. I’m not telling. This will also not be one of those statistical analyses that makes watching paint dry seem riveting. No, in order to understand today’s mess, we need to look at the system. The Founders designed our elections to be unifying events that give citizens the opportunity to control the course of their government. Unfortunately, we may be living in an age where this is no longer true.
While we like to think of our elected leaders as representing our individual interests, the truth is they don’t. Every governor congressman, senator, mayor, or county commissioner represents tens-of-thousands of individuals whom collectively have thousands of diverse interests. These voters are broken into voting blocks that believe, or behave, in competing ways. Within each group, there are most likely many sub-groups that have their own agendas. The end result is a fragmented puzzle. That puzzle, when it’s linked together, represents our government. Every few years, elections are held in an attempt to put the puzzle back together again. The problem is that, depending on the election, only half to two-thirds of all eligible voters choose to vote, and in every office except the presidency, the candidate that gets a majority wins. This means that one-third to one-half of the puzzle doesn’t get “put together” into a unified, cohesive form.
Now, it used to be that politically fragmented groups never had an opportunity to communicate with each other after their candidates were defeated, and this kept them politically weak. They would watch Walter Cronkite report the results, see the cheering crowds (from the winners’ campaigns of course) and come to the conclusion that they are out of sorts with mainstream America. Thus, the people who loved candidate X for his stance on the importation of bat dung never had the means to know that even though their guy lost the election, there was a sizable block of like minded bat dung lovers spread across the nation in other voting districts.
Fast forward to today. In an age where the tools of communication, social media, and a pathetically sensationalized news media, allow our association of dung lovers to find each other and form national action plans, things start getting a little dicey. The fact that minority groups (not racial but political) now feel enabled by the presence of like-minded people across vast geographic areas gives them the perception that their belief system is strong and reasonable, and if they can just keep stirring the pot until the next election, they can put a stop to the chicanery going on at the state house or in Washington. This has allowed groups to self-identify more with their causes and beliefs rather than with their parties, communities, states, and even their nation.
The American democratic puzzle may never be the same but that doesn’t mean we are all doomed. A digital mob’s only loyalty is to its foundational belief system, not to any one person who claims to represent those beliefs. Equivocation and rational compromise based on realpolitik will not win elected officials any admiration. The Internet enables voters to focus with singularity. Hyper-reactive single-minded voting blocks are here to stay. This probably means that our system of government will never be the same.
This is why we have dysfunction today.
For better or worse, government defines the environment in which all business takes place, and averagists need to understand why that is and what’s driving today’s chaotic dysfunction.
First things first: If you are expecting me to make some sort of declaration about my personal political beliefs, you’ll be sadly disappointed. I’m not telling. This will also not be one of those statistical analyses that makes watching paint dry seem riveting. No, in order to understand today’s mess, we need to look at the system. The Founders designed our elections to be unifying events that give citizens the opportunity to control the course of their government. Unfortunately, we may be living in an age where this is no longer true.
While we like to think of our elected leaders as representing our individual interests, the truth is they don’t. Every governor congressman, senator, mayor, or county commissioner represents tens-of-thousands of individuals whom collectively have thousands of diverse interests. These voters are broken into voting blocks that believe, or behave, in competing ways. Within each group, there are most likely many sub-groups that have their own agendas. The end result is a fragmented puzzle. That puzzle, when it’s linked together, represents our government. Every few years, elections are held in an attempt to put the puzzle back together again. The problem is that, depending on the election, only half to two-thirds of all eligible voters choose to vote, and in every office except the presidency, the candidate that gets a majority wins. This means that one-third to one-half of the puzzle doesn’t get “put together” into a unified, cohesive form.
Now, it used to be that politically fragmented groups never had an opportunity to communicate with each other after their candidates were defeated, and this kept them politically weak. They would watch Walter Cronkite report the results, see the cheering crowds (from the winners’ campaigns of course) and come to the conclusion that they are out of sorts with mainstream America. Thus, the people who loved candidate X for his stance on the importation of bat dung never had the means to know that even though their guy lost the election, there was a sizable block of like minded bat dung lovers spread across the nation in other voting districts.
Fast forward to today. In an age where the tools of communication, social media, and a pathetically sensationalized news media, allow our association of dung lovers to find each other and form national action plans, things start getting a little dicey. The fact that minority groups (not racial but political) now feel enabled by the presence of like-minded people across vast geographic areas gives them the perception that their belief system is strong and reasonable, and if they can just keep stirring the pot until the next election, they can put a stop to the chicanery going on at the state house or in Washington. This has allowed groups to self-identify more with their causes and beliefs rather than with their parties, communities, states, and even their nation.
The American democratic puzzle may never be the same but that doesn’t mean we are all doomed. A digital mob’s only loyalty is to its foundational belief system, not to any one person who claims to represent those beliefs. Equivocation and rational compromise based on realpolitik will not win elected officials any admiration. The Internet enables voters to focus with singularity. Hyper-reactive single-minded voting blocks are here to stay. This probably means that our system of government will never be the same.
This is why we have dysfunction today.