Democracy and politics; it ain’t always pretty

The Akron Beacon Journal has an editorial bemoaning the politics of the budget.  What it comes down to is this: we don’t like the messy nature of democracy and politics so what we should do is raise taxes and further regulate speech so elected officials can lead. The Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer have both expressed similar sentiments of late.

You will excuse me if I don’t buy this argument.

I find it so humorous how the left is constantly banging its high chair about democracy, and voter participation, and civic engagement but gets so angry when the process gets messy and politicians – surprise, surprise – practice politics.

As long as you have elected officials making important decisions you are going to have politics with all the highs and lows that entails.  This is the nature of the system and of human beings.

It doesn’t matter if it is a Secretary of State accused of being too “partisan” or governor being castigated for his lack of leadership.  While many of these concerns have legitimate complaints attached to them, one constant component is that politicians should somehow be able to put aside the thought of losing an election and instead focus on doing what’s right.  As if the two are unrelated and unconnected in the official’s mind. As if it is a matter of morality and character rather than a balance of pragmatism, policy, and yes good politics.

But have you noticed a pattern in these editorials across the state?  What makes the writers the most angry?  That Strickland and the Democrats won’t even talk about raising taxes.  They expect this from Republicans but it has got to get under the skin of the left, and “centrists” comfortable with big government and high taxes, that what they see as a “right-wing talking point” has caught hold in such a way that it limits Democratic elected officials.

Shouldn’t the no new taxes crowd exist only in the GOP primary?  What was Strickland thinking when he bought into this idea?

I’ll tell you what he was thinking.  As I have said ad nausea, Strickland got elected thanks in large part to GOP scandal and incompetence.  He was a don’t rock the boat candidate.  Nice guy; moderate; won’t pull anything stupid.  Put aside whether this was an accurate portrayal or wise decision by voters. This is what happened.

Raising taxes when he promised he wouldn’t, however, leaves him open to caricature as just another tax and spend liberal.  The Beacon Journal might not like the effectiveness of such an attack but it is a fact of life.  Voters don’t like candidates who promise one thing and do another.  Voters tend not to like candidates who raise their taxes.  This is a feature not a bug.

Oversimplification and a certain amount of caricature is part and parcel of democracy and an active political system.  There are valid complaints to be made about such a system.  And conservatives have long complained about America’s drift from a more republican form of democracy that mitigates some of the excess of direct democracy.  But the left usually assails this sort of talk as voter suppresion and disenfranchisment.

You can’t make the voters your god and then act suprised when politicians worship them.

If you want to argue for higher taxes, by all means feel free to do so.  But don’t hide behind the easy scapegoats of negative attack ads and cowardly politicians.