Politics as Usual

If you listen really hard in the direction of Washington, D.C. (consult local listings), you will probably hear someone, undoubtedly a talking head of some sort, accusing someone else of being political. You might, if you're lucky, catch the accused, in return, making reference to the fact that no one should expect any differently.

And you know what? Whether or not we should expect any differently is beside the point. Calling something with which you don't agree "politically-motivated" is the same cant we get to hear about "treasonous" and "terrorist" and "fascist" and all the other good-sounding words that talking heads like to throw out so they don't have to address any substantive issues.

The fact of the matter is that most things that go on in government are politically-motivated. Is it political to do the things for which your constituents elected you? I think so. Should you still do those things? Absolutely. It's not pandering to your base if you were elected to do things and you do them. Is everyone always going to agree on those things? Yeah, right. When that happens, you give me a call.

So yes, it's political. Everything anyone does in government relates to politics, so therefore government is, by nature, political.

But I know what they really mean, and so should you. They don't mean, "of or relating to politics." They mean, "designed only to play some kind of meta-governmental game which will put my side at a disadvantage without accomplishing anything of real value."

Guess what? That happens a lot. Maybe it should happen less often, but it's as much a feature of government as politics. If everything your opponent does is motivated only by a desire to screw you over, that's hardly an atmosphere where much of anything can get done. As I've mentioned previously, I'm not at all sure that's a bad thing. But I don't really believe that everything that gets called "political" is in fact "political."

Talking heads are designed to do one thing: not say much of anything. In that respect, I suppose, they are about as political as you can get, because without politics, they wouldn't have much in the way of skills.