To
listen to Republicans talk about Democrats, to listen to Democrats talk about
Republicans, if you take their rhetoric at face value you would reach the
conclusion that these two parties are polar opposites, that they believe in
fundamentally different things. But most
of that is theater. The truth is that
the similarities between Republicans and Democrats on very important issues are
far more important in determining the substance of our politics than the
differences. And in that sense the
two-party system really becomes a one-party system.
-
Andrew Bacevich
Re: The theater
of elections (see minute 6 of Bacevich talking with
Lawrence R. Velvel): perhaps we/politicians spend so much money on elections because,
at the national level for sure or for sure in states more populated than Idaho,
we/politicians are creating our reality.
How much higher stake in the outcome of some event can one have? Masters of reality. Politicians and the media create a dream
state that we live in: we are paying well or having money spent on us in order
to weave this fantasy. Even if one says
that any reality can find its own justification, you must agree the amount of
money spent speaks of the immensity of the task.
May I try
and convince you to vote in a system that you know has serious flaws? – that is
the question that successful election campaigns must answer. At stake, to state it summarily, is the
corporate-backed, consumerist, money-making world. Actors from this quarter are pumping money in
and keeping the system alive because it seems to be a successful way to extend
and legitimate our/their reality.
By competing
against, say, an incumbent, the challenger may speak of problems, of areas where
he could do better. But in the realm of Republican
versus Democrat the field of combat is narrowly constrained and third party
voices are rarely heard. This is Bacevich’s
Incumbent Party, the Republicans and the Democrats different wings of a single
party/reality.
