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How can Congress and politicians be so unpopular among the voters, the very people who elected them?
A good part of the answer lies is in how America’s political parties have evolved over time.
In a recent talk at the National Taxpayers Union, I gave a speech outlining the steps in that evolution. (You can see my remarks–the “History of Political Parties”–on YouTube.)
Today, both major parties are unprincipled vehicles for keeping politicians in power. Their direct mail and other outreach tools occasionally express an agenda — but in practice they are fundraising tools for incumbents. It is incumbency that matters–not their policies, beliefs or actions in office.
It was not always that way.
The 19th century parties had an effective tool to discipline politicians in the only way politicians really understand — it denied them re-nomination when they strayed too far from the party’s platform. Elections were about parties and platforms — not candidates and personalities.
However, as the 19th century turned into the 20th, both parties adopted a radically different way of determining its nominees which significantly crippled their previous ability to keep their candidates accountable.
We can’t turn the clock back, but we have to face the reality that bringing principles back to politics will require people to work through independent organizations — free of government, politician,
and party.
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