I have often been accused of being naïve about politics and I plead guilty. I simply believed the specious descriptions of the American experience I was taught in grade school, secondary school, college, church, civic holidays, media, books, peers, and all the other venues where the mythology of political idealism is propagated. The political system, it was implied, can be dirty but everyone has America’s best interest at heart. In fact, I had based my entire political strategy on that theme… Well, I have been in the political maelstrom long enough now to know that I will need to recalibrate - politics is a spoils system – nothing more. It is surrounded with pretensions, enveloped by ideology, and shrouded in patriotism, but the reality is infinitely baser – selfish profiteering.
Historically, politics in the U.S. was unabashedly corrupt. It was simply taken for granted that the winning party fired everyone who was not a member. Theodore Roosevelt, in the 1880s, was a “Reform” candidate, who in part made his reputation challenging the status quo and demanding civil service reform to eliminate the patronage system (adding meritocracy to government employment). Over the next century, other reformers have forced corruption into the shadows, such that only the initiate are aware of it. In fact, it seems the actual achievement of politics is to prevent armed revolution, not to provide efficient and honest government. There are two parties vying to get in control so that their group can exploit the system. As each group succeeds in this goal, envy and resentment causes the tide to turn to the other party – back-and-forth each side carves up and distributes the rewards to its constituents, satisfying their self-interests long enough to prevent them from picking up weapons to demand their share of the goodies through violent means. In this sense – politics in America does seem to work.
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