No right turn: if Americans haven't gotten more conservative, why is the GOP in charge?

Washington Monthly, Oct-Nov, 2005 by Christopher Hayes

The picture of the GOP's leadership that emerges from Off Center resembles nothing so much as Louis XIV, who was able to consolidate power in the French monarchy by recognizing that much of what limited the king's political power were ultimately social and cultural norms, norms which Louis ingeniously undermined. He was, in short, an innovator, a power entrepreneur who recognized that the "rules" that kept the king in check could be subverted and altered, and that the fractured nature of the aristocracy could be leveraged and manipulated to his advantage.

But there's a structural aspect to the GOP's dominance as well. Machines thrive on a dearth of information, which is why they are so effective in electing "downticket" candidates. You may be able to make up your mind about who yon want to vote for mayor, but when it comes to the 12 names on the ballot for Water Reclamation District or circuit judge, you're likely to pull the lever for whomever's on the palm card your precinct captain slipped you because that's simply the only thing you have to go on. In Washington today, it is the information "haves"--most notably corporate America and interest groups on both sides--who hold policy makers to account, while the information "have nots"--the majority of the American populace--have literally no idea what the hell is even going on. The GOP's repeated and brazen give-aways to the powerful, the connected, and the super-rich are like crimes committed in broad daylight in front of a blindfolded crowd.

The blame for this can't all be laid at Tom DeLay's feet. If there's a gap in Hacker and Pierson's account it is the glancing treatment they give to the parallel stories of how oppositional forces such as labor unions, the press, and most obviously the Democratic Party have either withered or failed to hold the machine accountable. The GOP didn't rise to power in a vacuum, and despite the body blows the party has landed to the mechanism of self-governance, the nation remains a democracy in which citizens choose between alternatives by means of elections. If people are voting for a party with which they fundamentally disagree on a whole host of issues, then the opposition party has more than a little bit to do with that.

While some of the reforms Hacker and Pierson propose in the book's final chapter are no doubt warranted, the first step in any structural reform is to pry the machine's fingers off the steering wheel of power. In this case, the destruction of the GOP monopoly and the restoration of accountable governance fall to progressives, liberals, moderates, and a whole host of other coalition members in the big dysfunctional tent that is the Democratic Party. We had better get our act together soon because as Off Center suggests, the longer a machine stays in power, the harder it is to beat.

Christopher Hayes is a senior editor of In These Times.