{"id":346,"date":"2013-02-10T19:37:30","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T19:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=346"},"modified":"2013-02-11T19:39:37","modified_gmt":"2013-02-11T19:39:37","slug":"messengers-messages-and-voters-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/messengers-messages-and-voters-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Messengers, Messages, and Voters: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bruce Thornton<\/p>\n

FrontPage<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At their retreat in Williamsburg a few weeks ago House Republicans continued the post-mortem of November\u2019s debacle. A big topic was how to better market the Republican brand. A Domino\u2019s Pizza executive gave \u201ca well-received talk about selling a damaged brand to a modern audience,\u201d asNational Review Online<\/em><\/a>\u00a0reported. But professional marketers start by understanding their target audience. Music companies don\u2019t spend a lot of money trying to sell rap music to senior citizens, and denture cream manufacturers pretty much ignore the 18-35 demographic. When it comes to politics, we forget this critical dimension of marketing. We just assume that a critical mass of voters, including the millions who voted for the other guy, want to buy our product.<\/p>\n

Party activists and operatives, of course, publicly can\u2019t address this issue. As Romney\u2019s leaked \u201c47%\u201d comment shows, it doesn\u2019t do to insult the people you want to buy your goods. But that pragmatic consideration doesn\u2019t change the reality that the interests of voters that frequently determine how they vote will not necessarily be trumped by more effectively or skillfully presenting facts and principles.<\/p>\n

Nor is it exceptional to observe that citizens vote their interests. Starting with the earliest critics of democracy, the tendency of voters to put their private interests over the long-term well-being of the state was a consistent criticism. Around 425 BC, the \u201cOld Oligarch\u201d made this fact the basis of his attack on Athenian democracy: \u201cIt is my opinion that the people at Athens know which citizens are good and which bad, but that in spite of this knowledge they cultivate those who are complaisant and useful to themselves, even if bad; and they tend to hate the good. For they do not think that the good are naturally virtuous for the people\u2019s benefit, but for their hurt.\u201d In other words, it wasn\u2019t a question of just not knowing who was good or bad, ignorance to be corrected through more knowledge. The point was that self-interest was more important than sorting out the noble and base.<\/p>\n

Likewise, Thucydides in his history of the Peloponnesian War shows us the Athenian Assembly making decisions based on their own interests no matter how obvious the long-term damage to Athens. The famous recreation of the debate over invading Sicily \u2014 one of the worst military disasters in history \u2014 shows the Athenians enthusiastically voting for the expedition even after Nicias documents precisely the dangers that doomed it. Facts weren\u2019t as important as the benefits various citizens thought they would acquire from the war. For other critics of Athens, state pay for public service and attending festivals was the best evidence that the people saw the state as a source of personal gain and advancement. Such indulgence of self-interest at the expense of the state, Socrates claimed, made the people \u201cidle and cowardly, and encouraged them in the love of talk and money.\u201d The citizen became, Aristophanes sneered, \u201cas mercenary as the stonemason.\u201d<\/p>\n

We may dismiss such criticism as the complaints of disgruntled elitists, but the American Founders in the main agreed. They shared the ancient view of human nature as motivated by passion and self-interest, and similarly feared democracy as the form of government that gave the widest scope to those passions and interests. Thus, the Founders crafted a mixed government in which democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy \u2014 the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency \u2014 created, along with the judiciary, a balance of powers that would limit the pursuit of self-interest on the part of citizens by balancing \u201cfaction\u201d (our \u201cspecial interests\u201d) against faction, so that no one group could dominate the government and weaken political liberty.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Federalist No. 10<\/em>, James Madison wrote that this \u201cfactious spirit\u201d is the consequence of the human propensity to form \u201cfactions\u201d \u2014 \u201ca number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who areunited and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community<\/em>.\u201d Moreover, Madison points out, faction is an inevitable expression of human nature and political freedom itself, and so cannot be eliminated without \u201cdestroying the liberty which is essential to its existence,\u201d a cure \u201cworse than the disease.\u201d The other cure would be to give all citizens \u201cthe same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.\u201d But this is impossible given human nature, for \u201cAs long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.\u00a0As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madison concludes, \u201cThe latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man . . . A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and\u00a0rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good<\/em>.\u201d The solution of the Founders is the balance of power defining our government: \u201cThe balance of a well-ordered government,\u201d John Adams wrote, \u201cwill alone be able to prevent that emulation [rivalry for power] from degenerating into dangerous ambition, irregular rivalries, destructive factions, wasting seditions, and bloody civil war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our problem today is that our government has evolved to something closer to ancient Athenian democracy than the Founders ever imagined. Universal suffrage and the popular election of Senators have subjected politicians more directly to the will and aims of the people. The expansion of the federal government\u2019s power and reach through entitlements bestowed on citizens has given them a powerful self-interest that frequently determines their votes (see Nicholas Eberstadt\u2019s\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0column<\/a>\u00a0for a succinct description of just how extensive \u2014 and expensive \u2014 entitlements have become). And modern communication technologies, particularly the internet and 24\/7 cable news and commentary, the endless political campaign, and multiple daily polls have intensified the direct impact voters and \u201cfactions\u201d can have on their representatives to make sure their interests are served. All these developments have made cogent the criticisms of Athenian democracy that so influenced the Founders of our political order.<\/p>\n

So unless one believes that human nature has evolved beyond passion and self-interest so that today a critical mass of voters will consider principle and the good of the whole even at the cost of their own interests, we still face the same problem that troubled earlier critics of democracy. Of course, this doesn\u2019t mean that conservatives should adopt the fatalistic attitude that there\u2019s nothing to be done. By all means, identify talented leaders, and think about more effective ways to communicate. But let\u2019s not pretend that it won\u2019t take the folly of progressive policies hitting hard people\u2019s material interests and political freedom \u2014 which will happen, without question, under Obama and the Democrats \u2014 to make voters receptive to those messengers and messages.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92013 Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bruce Thornton FrontPage   At their retreat in Williamsburg a few weeks ago House Republicans continued the post-mortem of November\u2019s debacle. A big topic was how to better market the Republican brand. A Domino\u2019s Pizza executive gave \u201ca well-received talk about selling a damaged brand to a modern audience,\u201d asNational Review Online\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,31],"tags":[176,12,98,107,32,129],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-5A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1426,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/moral-equivalence-is-moral-evasion\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":0},"title":"Moral Equivalence Is Moral Evasion","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine The failure of the Congressional budget \u201csuper-committee\u201d to address our geometrically expanding debt and deficits should surprise no one. From the beginning the committee was political theater designed to create the illusion of action when the will to act is missing. Unfortunately, this perennial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6995,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/republicans-go-on-an-immigration-reform-bender\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":1},"title":"Republicans Go On an Immigration Reform Bender","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 Rather than twisting the political knife in the gaping wound that is Obamacare, House Republicans are off on a \u201ccomprehensive immigration reform\u201d toot. The latest news has the Speaker putting off any action for now, and waiting until after the midterm elections in order\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/519px-Greatwall_large-259x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":619,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/not-the-message-not-the-messenger-its-the-voter-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":2},"title":"Not the Message, Not the Messenger, It’s the Voter: Part I","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce Thronton FrontPage Nearly 3 months after the presidential election the Republicans are still trying to fix what they think went wrong. A popular culprit is the Republicans\u2019 alleged failure to communicate forcefully or persuasively a message that would move voters presumably receptive to conservative policies and principles. Just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1138,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/its-the-president-stupid-the-referendum-on-barack-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":3},"title":"It’s the President Stupid: The Referendum on Barack Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com The people have spoken, and what they have said concerns more than just the wrong-headed policies the Democrats have inflicted upon us in the past few years. This election was never just about policy \u2013\u2013 it was also about Barack Obama and the repudiation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6945,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/fight-the-next-war-not-the-last-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":4},"title":"Fight the Next War, Not the Last One","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 Tuesday night President Obama will deliver another campaign speech, this one\u00a0marketed\u00a0as the State of the Union address. As such, we can expect to hear, through the\u00a0usual\u00a0white noise of \u201cI,\u201d \u201cme,\u201d and \u201cmy,\u201d\u00a0vacuous bromides like \u201cmoving America forward,\u201d and\u00a0empty\u00a0promises \u201cto grow the economy, strengthen the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. 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