Since the beginning of time, political candidates have sought and received political endorsements. Has the far right now turned a tried and true practice into something the "Founding Fathers" never envisioned? The current trend for nationalizing what should be localized and state elections could have some precarious implications for the future.
Once upon a time, the role of a Congressman or a Senator was constituent service. While they were always a member of a party, Democrat or Republican, that was secondary. So was how conservative they were or how liberal they were. What mattered the most was their constituent service. Pandering to one group of people or another was something very few elected officials did, if they wanted to remain in office.
It was about taking care of the people who lived in one’s Congressional District or one’s state. Conservatives lament the fact that Robert Byrd, a Democrat, is constantly re-elected by the residents of a fairly conservative state, West Virginia. It is quite simple. Byrd has spent a life-time assembling a staff that knows how to take care of his people.
South Carolina’s junior senator, Jim DeMint wants term limits for members of the House and the Senate. DeMint replaced a long time Democratic senator, Fritz Hollings, who was constantly re-elected in the most Republican state in the country.
Why?
Fritz Hollings was not about being a liberal or a conservative. He was all about serving the needs of South Carolinians. What people in California, Florida, or even Georgia thought about him did not matter. What mattered was the people of South Carolina. He would listen to the people of South Carolina, and ignore everyone else. His votes reflected the will of the people of his state, not the will of someone in Arizona. He did what we told him to do.
Butler Derrick was an annoying, but all powerful Democrat in the House of Representatives from South Carolina. He knew how to play to certain elements within the District in order to be re-elected term after term. Once again, it was not about liberal verses conservative, Democrat verses Republican, it was about constituent service.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
SJ. You fail to ask the more important question which the teapariers and other protesters are asking, which is whether we need Republicans or conservatives in office who vote for massive bailouts and uncontrolled spending and tossing away our rights and our national sovereignty. That behavior on the part of your elected representatives is what is being opposed and it should be.
As for the Scozzafava debacle, the root of that problem was having a candidate picked by party insiders with no input from the public. That betrayal of the public trust by the political elite opened the door to all that outside meddling.
Dave
2 - SJ Reidhead
Who has voted for the bail-outs but a couple of Republicans in the House? After that first one, the GOP has held the line.
NY-23 was a fiasco. No one came out of it looking good. But - it opened the doors for further behavior of the same. Very few elections are ever NY-23s. It seems to me NY has a history of problems in special elections, so why was any of what happened a surprise?
I still think NY-23 should have been left to the people of that District.
I have a difficult time trying to figure out how someone so libertarian (as in Libertarian-Republican) can advocate government staying out of our hair as much as possible, which BTW, I also do. If you advocate that, how can you go with outside forces manipulating elections that are the business of the people in that district. Sure, we want certain candidates elected, but when do we began violating the spirit of a person elected to "represent" a specific Congressional district and a state? Isn't this new call for purity and for people who have no blasted business telling say, the people in NM's 2nd District how to vote, doing so, opening a Pandora's Box?
I conservatives are headed down a very dark path. You can't advocate libertarian principles and want to manipulate every little election. You turn those libertarian ideas into nothing but a joke.
You can't have it both ways. Don't you find it rather humorous that conservatives who advocate "home rule" don't hesitate to tell someone clear across the country how to vote, there-by turning themselves into the very thing they do detest?
You can't have it both ways. Either give up being libertarian and start acting like a socialist or behave like a libertarian or a conservative and let people pick their own candidates and elect their own officials.
What really bothers me is the arrogance of the whole thing. By stepping in to manipulate an election from the outside, conservatives are telling the people of a state or a specific district that they are too stupid, dumb, ignorant, or 'impure" to handle their own affairs. It is a recipe for abject disaster.
Don't you find the whole NY-23 story a little interesting. Evidently there wasn't all that much protest in the district as to how Scozzafava was chosen (which was an abject disaster, and people should be expelled from where ever they can be expelled, etc) until that Hoffman started snuggling up to Glenn Beck?
SJR
3 - SJ Reidhead
OH, that opening sentence in the 4th paragraph is a little pathetic! Should contain the following at the end of the sentence:
...can you advocate manipulating elections?
(something like that)
SJR
4 - handyguy
The public did speak in NY 23 -- they elected a Democrat.
When Dave decides to go all populist, as in commenting on this article, he chooses to pretend that 'the will of the people' includes only loudmouth teabaggers.
Liberal and moderate Democrats, not to mention moderate Republicans and independents, are conveniently ignored -- the better to exaggerate the importance of the loud and the ignorant who misuse and abuse the word and concept 'liberty' in the same offensive way Dave does.
5 - handyguy
PS I actually like this article. I have not agreed often with SJ in the past.
6 - SJ Reidhead
Yikes!
Have I done something wrong - if you liked it?
I seem to remember Dave also thought NY-23 was a fiasco.
The real problem is the fact that I think if this behavior continues (conservatives, not Dave) that it is going to turn into the conservative's own little ACORN.
I will try to write something you dislike next time.
Just kidding.
SJR
7 - SallyVee
A very thoughtful article with which I agree. I am so exhausted with the TeeVee People (FoxNewsers) led by Beck & Hannity, trying to control the levers of Right Wingdom from their living rooms. It's silly and beneath the dignity of serious American citizens. We should not be answering the insanity and silliness of the far left with insanely silly populism from the right.
In many ways, rightwing fringies are as addicted to celebrity, shallow rhetoric, nagging nannyism, vastly overblown outrage and shortsighted strategy as the O-bots. The only good news is, I think the fringies will flame out. Come November 2010, Obama & his Socialist Clown Posse will have clarified the battle lines to a point far beyond argument.
8 - Dave Nalle
Neither of you really read what I wrote.
The problem in NY-23 is that the election was being manipulated from the start. I don't buy the assumption that it is any better for party insiders to rig the election than it is for other interest groups to rig it. The fact is that both groups wanted to interfere with the democratic process and I'd have preferred for the people to have some input earlier in the process. Why is that such a problem?
Dave
9 - Arch Conservative
Handy....you, Ubermann, Maddow and the rest of the getalong gang can keep snickering and referring to them as teabaggers.
The desire not to have the federal government dictate every aspect of our lives is not right wing extremism. For every person who attended a tea party event, there are another who stayed home but feel pretty much the same way.
You're in for a very rude awakening come November 2010.
10 - Zedd
The Founding Fathers did their best at fortune telling, however they were just men.
They had no concept of the world that we live in. It's nice that we give them so much homage but is that the goal? It was not their intent that their vision be so important but the usefulness of their ideas. It was always about We The People. It still is.
So how universal and relevant are our legislations. How do they ensure fairness and support liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
11 - Lumpy
Zedd u live in a fantasy world. If the founding fathers got a look at your ideas they'd want to put an end to public voting entirely.
12 - Glenn Contrarian
SJ -
The dirty little secret is that these "patriots" really don’t have the power to get their candidates elected. They can destroy a Republican and throw a seat to the Democrats (which may be their actual intent) but they cannot win elections. They are spoilers, self-righteous, ignorant spoilers who talk a good game, but appear not to really care what this nation is all about. Do we really need conservatives like this?
YES! Ab-so-lu-TIVE-ly! Because it's only with the ongoing meltdown of the Republican party to the point where only its base will remain - and aided by its historic disdain for minorities - that we Democrats will be able to do what is necessary to bring fiscal responsibility back to America, and enable health care for tens of millions of Americans whom the Republicans would leave behind.
YEAH! Cheney/Palin for GOP in 2012! Or Palin/Cheney! Or Palin/Beck!
Between the "purity test", the continuing revelations of the Bush administration's failures in Afghanistan, and more about how Bush was 'hell-bent' on invading Iraq, the GOP's "budget proposal" that had NO numbers, the GOP's "health-care reform" that would have enabled almost NO health care for the 45M+ uninsured Americans, and the continuing Republican disdain for minorities despite the all-but-certain demographic changes that are proceeding apace...
...I really don't see how the Republicans will dig their way out of this hole. With two exceptions, that is: a major terrorist attack, or Weimar-Republic-scale deflation. These the ONLY events that could sweep the Republicans back into power.
13 - Dave Nalle
Lots of wishful thinking going down between Glenn and Zedd. Tragic that it has zero to do with reality.
And more of the lies and distortions - "historic disdain for minorities" my ass.
All it will take to bring Republicans back is for the Democrat-authored economic fiasco to continue for another 6 months or so, along with the rest of the continued assault on our liberties, and we'll see a tidal wave for change push the GOP back into power.
Dave
14 - zingzing
what "Democrat-authored economic fiasco?"
i do see your point, it being that if shit continues to go south, the party in power will no longer be in power, but to say that the dems are the one that created this "economic fiasco" is just... ridiculous. "wishful thinking," indeed.
besides, which "gop" will get back into office? you guys are sniping at each other so hard right now that there seem to be two different parties fighting for the same name. i'm not sure you'll like the gop that does find its way there, and as much as i despise some of your political beliefs (or catch phrases), the other side of the republican party is far more disgusting than you are, and gaining more popularity.
""historic disdain for minorities" my ass" my ass. southern strategy?
15 - Zedd
Lumpy
What ideas? You just wanted to post something but didn't know what to say. Didn't you?
16 - Dave Nalle
Zing, it's the truth, even if you don't like it. Look at the facts. Even TARP which was the first of the disastrous spending measures would not have passed had it not received most of its votes from Democrat legislators. Only a handful of Republicans supported it in Congress. It was a product of Bush and the Democrats who wrote it.
As for which GOP, I'm in favor of the one which likes small government and liberty. And I would argue that the theocratic elements of the party are in the last throes of their demise.
As for the southern strategy, it has always been about states righs, not minorities.
Dave
17 - zingzing
for fuck's sake, dave... "Look at the facts. Even TARP..."
like tarp is what did this!? that's like blaming the cancer on the surgury. tarp didn't CREATE this. tarp was an attempt to stop the blood. and the republicans voted in more than a "handful" for it, so you can give that up as well. about 50% of house reps and 66% of senate reps voted "yipee!"
"As for which GOP, I'm in favor of the one which likes small government and liberty."
ahh, the meaningless "small government." even those that like "small gov't" don't seem to like it so much when it's theirs to run. and "liberty..." ah, that old trope. nothing as meaningless as that. it's like promoting "air." and "toenail growth."
"As for the southern strategy, it has always been about states righs, not minorities."
BULLSHIT. it was about gathering up southerners who had voted independent in the previous election because they were sick of those "liberal" democrats trying to integrate their schools. so nixon slowed desegregation in an attempt to get those votes, and he did it as loud as he could. "states rights..." come on, dave. that's the most ridiculous thing you could have said right there.
in your mind, "keepin' the negroes down" equates to "liberty" if you actually believe that.
18 - Lumpy
Despite all the hostility I think what we are seeing here is the last desperate lashing out of leftists who are finally realizing that socialism fails here just like everywhere else.
19 - zingzing
ah, lumpy. ever the optimist. of course, seeing as how we live in a capitalist society, i dunno how we can really test socialism here.
20 - Mike
I almost peed my pants laughing so hard at the comments regarding the republican landslide in 2010. The last time republicans won it was 2004 and George W. Bush was reelected. Good luck getting Americans to forget that f***wad
21 - Arch Conservative
How frustrating it must be for you lefties.....
You've finally gotten one of your own in the White House.....Pelosi in the House....Reid in the Senate.....yet you still can't get you agenda over on the nation..........
If only those evil, inbred Fox News watchers would shut up.....Don't they realize that it's your ideals that will save humanity from itself? How can they be so ignorant that they can't see the obvious....that supporting the liberal left wing agenda will eventually bring about world peace and harmony and justice for all...........
For a bunch of people that got exactly what you wanted...you sure are doing a lot of bitching.
Who knew that your messiah was so fucking impotent?
The animosity and distaste that so many had for Bush and the GOP is rapidly being replaced by animosity and distaste toward Barry and the Dems. Don't believe it?........keep telling yourselves that 2010 is going to be a good year for your agenda.
22 - Thunder from Down Under
"You're in for a very rude awakening come November 2010."
Maybe not.
23 - zingzing
archie, you're a recovering economy or a functional health care system away from your worst nightmare.
24 - El Bicho
Arch is taking the broken clock method of predicting elections.
25 - zingzing
yeah... i've been coming around here since about 2005 or 2006, and the republicans have yet to win a significant election... and what's archie's favorite mormon? the guy he said would be president by now... ahh, can't be bothered to remember his name. oh, yeah, it's probably reagan. well, it should be, since archie is caught in some fantastical version of the 80s he doesn't remember. anyway, doesn't look like archie is the best odds-maker on political betting. unless you go against his predictions. would have been good money by this point.