Schrag: Politician Bashing and Selling California Voters Cure All Solutions

By Peter Schrag

"Nobody ever went broke," Henry Mencken supposedly said, "underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

It's not certain he ever did say it. But nothing seems quite as apt for the weeks just before an election. The political hucksters have been counting on it for decades, and they're not going broke.

As usual, the last weeks' political ads on television, in the papers and in the mailers are laced with scare stuff – the ads to ban gay marriage, say – and no end of lies and pretense. That applies especially to the slate mailers purporting to be from some established organization – the cops, environmentalists, Democrats – that are nothing but commercial operations selling "endorsements," marked by tiny asterisks, to anyone willing to pay for them.

Even the anti-immigration crowd is running newspaper ads in California with a photo of wind farms, telling readers that if the country doesn't reduce immigration, any attempt to attain energy independence and environmental protection will be "just blowing in the wind." As if those same people wouldn't consume just as much energy and dump just as much gunk in the air if they lived somewhere else. If they stayed in Mexico or China, they'd pollute more.

But maybe the most telling illustration is the battle over Proposition 11, the initiative that would take control of the decennial reapportionment process from the Legislature and give it to a supposedly independent commission. That change, based on the belief that if politicians didn't draw their own district lines the Legislature would be less partisan, has been a favorite of good-government reformers and editorialists for decades.

One mailer – this one from the proponents – is headlined, "Had Enough of Sacramento Gridlock?" Without the gridlock, it implies, everything would be great. In a big box labeled "California State Legislature Report Card," the politicians get grades of "F" for their failure to "reduce the cost of gas," "reform health care" and "solve our water problems." (For some strange reason, they only get a D-minus in balancing the budget). And it says nothing about failing to cure cancer.

This mailer carries the blessings of the California League of Women Voters, California Common Cause and AARP, respected groups usually devoted to political straight talk and accountability. Maybe they really believe that the mere threat of Proposition 11 has already driven gas prices down.

Comments

Posted by: publius at October 28, 2008 11:43 AM

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