I agree with Walter Lippmann (from his 'The Phantom Public') that we have a far too idealised view of what…
I agree with Walter Lippmann (from his 'The Phantom Public') that we have a far too idealised view of what politics is, and how it works. And this drives our cynicism towards it. Some quotes to see if you agree. /1 #auspol https://t.co/Nvfg97nJSC
"To support the Ins when things are going well; to support the Outs when they seem to be going badly, this, in spite of all that has been said about tweedledum and tweedledee, is the essence of popular government. Even the most intelligent large public of which we .../2
...have any experience must determine finally who shall wie1d the organized power of the state, its army and its police, by a choice between the Ins and Outs. Although it is the custom of partisans to speak as if there were radical differences between the Ins and the Outs.../3
...it could be demonstrated, I be1ieve, that in stable and mature societies the differences are necessarily not profound. If they were profound, the defeated minority would be constantly on the verge of rebellion... /4
In the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and in certain of the Continental countries an election rarely means even a fraction of what the campaigners
said it would mean. It means some new faces and perhaps a slightly different general tendency in the .../5
...management of affairs...even these differing tendencies [between Ins and Outs] are very small as compared with the immense area of agreement, established habit and unavoidable necessity. In fact, one might say that a nation is politically stable when nothing of radical.../6
...consequence is determined by its e1ections. There is, therefore, a certain mock seriousness about the campaigning for votes in well-established communities. Much of the excitement is not about the fate of the nation but simply about the outcome of the game. /7
...the real difference between the Ins and the Outs is no more than this: the Ins, after a term of power,
become so committed to policies and so entangled with particular interests that they lose their neutral freedom of decision. They cannot then intervene to check.../8
...the arbitrary movement of the interests with which they have become aligned. Then it is time for the Outs to take power and restore a balance. The virtue of the Outs in this transaction is that they are not committed to those particular policies and those.../9
...particular interests which have become overweighted...The test of whether the Ins are handling affairs effectively is the presence or absence
of disturbing problems...for the most part the general public cannot back each reformer on each issue. It must choose between.../10
...the Ins and Outs on the basis of a cumulative judgment as to whether problems are being solved or aggravated." /end