Why things are the way they are

Never let it be said that I can't write a blog post in less than eight months.

One of the benefits of writing this blog infrequently is that I have the chance to think about long-term trends without getting bogged down in the moment.  I hope this is of value to you as well. Blogging regularly or, worse, tweeting every few minutes, is a full-time job.  I've already got one of those.  Of greater relevance, it seems to me that harping on up-to-the-minute events is very much like beating the proverbial dead horse.  How is today's bad behavior any worse than yesterday's?  Focusing on the moment also prevents folks from making sense of why things are the way they are; they're too busy devoting their energy to the very latest insult or outrage (which is strikingly similar to the one they harped on the day before).

Let's take as an example the criticism of the behavior of the Republican leadership in Congress.  If you read The New York Times and The Washington Post, you will find frequent op-eds, written by distinguished analysts, that decry the moral integrity of, among others, Mitch McConnell (and Paul Ryan, when it mattered) in the face of President Trump's comportment.  (See, for example, Charles Sykes, "Republicans, Don't Just Tweet About It. Do Something," or Richard Cohen, "Ryan andMcConnell show their cowardice.")  (To see this last one, you have to click through to the op-ed section.) Each of the op-eds just mentioned, now months old, ended with dire prognostications for the Republican Party: they would be blown out of the water in the mid-term elections (this turned out to be partially true) or that they would discredit their party for years to come, to say nothing of the accusations that they had no backbone and that they were unethical and immoral for not standing up to bad behavior.

Strikingly missing from this commentary has been an answer to the question: why? Why do politicians behave as they do?  (If you're concerned that my examples are old news, don't worry. As far as I can tell, no one answered this question yesterday or the day before, either.) If you read between the lines, one explanation surfaces: the current Republican Party is made up of a bunch of nasty people with a nasty agenda. In turn, folks on the right can (and do) employ the same aspersions against the political center left and left. The obvious conclusion is that everyone who doesn't agree with you is an evil, stupid person who should be run out of town or maybe even put in a camp.

I'm glad we settled that. Now we can all go out to the House of Pancakes.

Seriously now, it's unfortunate that people at high levels indulge in just this sort of thinking. In early 2017, The Wall Street Journal conducted their "Weekend Interview" with Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, an organization that promotes a libertarian and conservative approach to constitutional law. Throughout the piece, Trump's Supreme Court Whisperer, Mr. Leo made an even-handed argument for the merit of his organization's philosophy, and also presented some interesting illustrations of  nonpartisanship within the judicial branch. Shortly thereafter, however, he launched into a tirade against the Democratic party, implying that only Republicans are capable of playing fair and behaving with courtesy and decency. '“The only thing that history and experience shows,"' he said, '"is that they [the Democrats] relent and they are accommodating in the face of brute force, and that’s about it.”'

Fast forward to the immediate aftermath of last year's congressional elections, and we have Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina saying that if President Trump "'doesn't break them [the Democrats] now, it's going to be a terrible 2019.'"

Brute force? Break people? That's just great. Let's bring in the storm troopers.

These impolitic remarks do, nonetheless, bring me to why political actors behave the way they do, which is rooted in the old adage, "all politics is local politics." Everyone reading this has a community that they call home. It could be your immediate neighborhood, a small town where everyone knows everyone else, or a few blocks radius in a city. You all know a bunch of folks, some of them you like, some you don't. People often forget that the same applies to Washington, DC, with outsized consequences. Politicians of like mind, from both parties, hang around with politicians of like mind. They go to the same clubs, the same restaurants, they follow the same media sources, they move in tight, closed circles. They all think alike. As a result, that thinking becomes increasingly insular and narrow, with an attendant dose of self-righteousness and sanctimony. They don't talk to anyone who will tell them they might consider something from a different perspective, let alone someone who says, "you're wrong." Therefore, they're convinced that they're right. If you don't think so, just ask them.

This is bad news for anyone (say, like, the American voter), who thinks (and rightly so) that his or her elected representatives should be working for the common good and the best interests of their constituents (on a national scale, that means everyone). Without doubt, there are hard-working, conscientious Members of Congress who have the interests of their people back home in mind. Unfortunately, insular Washington politics frequently causes many other elected officials to lose sight of the needs of their constituents and public service in general. This is a powerful reason why politicians are still yapping about health care reform, our infrastructure is in dire need of repair, and we still have an opioid crisis.

So, what can we do about it? It's high time that we reminded our elected leaders that they work for us. The best way to do this is to vote. Many of you did this last November and that's a good thing. According to Forbes.com, voter frequency in the last midterm elections--49.2% of the eligible voters cast a ballot--was the highest it's been in more than a century. That's a start. I will refrain from posting what I think about citizens who don't exercise their right to vote.

Another thing to do is to get involved in your state's redistricting commission. A group of legal experts and former elected officials are trying to amend the Virginia (my state) constitution to form a bipartisan commission: three Republicans, three Democrats, and four independents, who would draw the state's voting maps after every census. The proposal for a constitutional amendment was organized by OneVirginia2021, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fair redistricting. Hundreds of folks are involved in this across the state. You could be one of them. If you don't live in Virginia, then have a look at the web site of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. There you will find updates on dozens of initiatives across the country, where folks like us are working to rid our political process of the sorry phenomenon of gerrymandering. If you don't see your state listed, maybe it's up to you to start an initiative. Support these groups as best you can. Together, we can force politicians to become representatives of the citizenry. Let's give it a try.

If you insist on hearing about something current, and you have an interest in history, or filmmaking, make your best effort to see They Shall Not Grow Old while it's still in theaters. Director Peter Jackson, of The Lord of the Rings fame, led a team that restored archival footage of British soldiers on the Western Front during World War I. It is exceptionally well done and worth seeing. Do NOT leave before Jackson walks you through the work behind the project at the conclusion of the film. The story behind the story is fascinating for anyone interested in cinematography.