It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to..."so goes a popular song of several years ago.
Every presidential election I realize that I, like many Americans, feel like I don't have a party...and it discourages me. For many in this country, such disillusionment means abstinence from the voting booth. It hasn't meant that for me; but I sure understand the feeling.
This month I look at several books and a film that examine the alienation of American Voters.
At Stake: Democracy
Several new books provide much-needed in-depth coverage and analysis of the power and influence of public relations firms and image-makers. These figures, and the organizations they represent, pose a dangerous threat to democracy.
Investigative journalist Bill Greider offers a frank analysis of the state of American democracy in Who Will Tell the People: The Betrayal of American Democracy (Simon & Schuster, 1992, $25, cloth). Examining the sense of betrayal many Americans feel, the disintegration of mediating institutions, and the obvious decay of people's confidence, Greider forecasts bleak circumstances. But this is not simply the work of a naysayer; it is a book by someone who obviously believes in the possibilities of the American system without defending naively all its activities.
Greider issues a challenge to those who are working to empower people. It cannot be done by trying to match the power of the elite; media-oriented shock tactics are too short-term in their effects. Only the hard work of citizen organizing and information sharing will truly confront the power structures in this image age.
The heart of this book became a Frontline PBS special ("The Betrayal of Democracy"), giving his message another medium for expression and forum for change. Greider's insights may be just the analysis we need to alter the impending future.
In Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction, and Democracy (Oxford University Press, 1992, $25, cloth), Kathleen Hall Jamieson examines the effects of negative campaigning on the democratic process, especially in the television era. Supported by a great deal of well-documented research, Jamieson demonstrates the difference that the visual medium brings to the reality of negativity in campaigning.
Jamieson focuses early in the book on the "Dukakis on crime" ads of the 1988 campaign, including the Willie Horton spot. She demonstrates how the ads were highly coordinated, being interwoven with campaign tours and press releases to create a news event around the "revelations" about Michael Dukakis' record. I was surprised to be reminded that the Horton ad actually never appeared on network television as a Republican paid ad. It actually became news instead.
Such is the power of the ad.
And such is the power of Jamieson's book. She offers an insightful, if rudimentary, means of analyzing and interpreting ads in political campaigns. Since commercials seem to be the most substantial aspect of modern campaigns, this is a skill we will all need to develop.
E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post has penned a brilliant work on the general feeling of the American electorate. In Why Americans Hate Politics (Touchstone, 1991, $12, paper), Dionne argues that both conservatives and liberals have concocted a series of phoney alternatives on major policy issues, creating a panic in the citizenry and ensuring their own re-election. But Americans have caught on to this little game the parties are playing...and we are not amused.
Dionne's book is divided into two sections: "The Failures of Liberalism" and "The Conservative Impasse." The author describes the many constituencies that each coalition is trying to satisfy and the logical inconsistencies that thus arise. And in an afterword prepared for the paperback edition, Dionne argues that the 1992 campaign has actually been more substance-based than other recent campaigns. He contends voters have rewarded candidates willing to discuss the controversial topics (for instance, Paul Tsongas' popularity as he addressed difficult economic issues).
Economic issues are the focus of Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele's America: What Went Wrong? (Andrews and McNeel, 1992, $6.95, paper). This affordable primer is an expansion of a series of articles for The Philadelphia Inquirer on trends in economic redistribution in the United States.
Barlett and Steele bring up all the issues that drive Rush Limbaugh crazy: They document the facts behind the feelings of those who see the economic decline. Their easily readable prose and graphs illustrate just how out of touch George Bush is when he claims that we are not in a recession.
The authors resist the temptation to blame all the economic woes on the last two administrations. Long-term declines preceded the election of Ronald Reagan, which simply points to a system that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, is not working. But the authors also show that recent Republican administrations have precipitated a redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich, and they link this economic reality with the political processes that allow it to happen.
One of the book's strengths is the analysis of how beholden the politicians are to monied resources. And without change in this reality, they see little hope for political or economic change in this country.
As well as any book could describe the frightening phenomenon of media-created candidates who are absent any substance (or "core values," as Tsongas would say), a recently released film, Bob Roberts, points to the eerie future of American politics. Written and directed by Tim Robbins, this movie shows the vacuity of modern campaigns in which rampant rumors and orchestrated images take central stage as issues of governance are relegated to scenery.
Bob Roberts (played by Robbins), a right-wing musician/politician with many brilliant Dylanesque allusions, joins with Iran-contra intellectuals and other fascists to rile up the rebels. His opponent for a Pennsylvania Senate seat is incumbent Brickley Paiste (played by Gore Vidal), an old-school politico who "hides behind the issues." (He offers such heresies as, "That is what politics is about...reality, not image.")
Roberts has captured the pulse of American popular culture and exploits it to achieve his conservative ideological objectives. He sings songs such as "Times Are Changin' Back" and "Wall Street Rap," in which he advocates "By any means necessary/Make millions." He becomes the rebel conservative, the right-wing populist, by alternately using and disparaging pop culture. Where have we seen this before?
Filmed as if it were a documentary, Bob Roberts captures the emotional reactions of Roberts' supporters and detractors alike. Although the film always borders on moralizing, it never crosses the line into manipulation or patronage of the viewer.
Hats off to Robbins, who in this election year provides a thriller that could make November 3 seem more frightening than October 31.
One Guardian Gone
While I was working on this column, one of the few remaining politicians from the "substance school of politics" passed away. Sen. Quentin Burdick (D-N.D.) cared little for the image emphasis of the new politics, prefering instead the more challenging process of building and maintaining a consensus on issues important to all, especially those least often represented in the halls of Congress.
Burdick, after losing seven straight campaigns for local and state office, was elected to the House in 1958. Two years later he became a senator, a job he has fulfilled ever since.
Of many personal memories of him, one most important to me is the day Burdick noticed a young North Dakotan in his office, ready to talk to a legislative aide about hunger and international aid issues. Burdick stopped, expressed dismay over an early '80s vote for yet another weapons program, and then listened to his constituent's arguments. At the end, he thanked me for "bringing sanity into the day and reminding me why I am here."
Thank you, Sen. Burdick, for the sanity you brought to the halls of Congress.
Bob Hulteen was the Under Review editor at Sojourners when this article first appeared.
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!