Accountability Depends On All of Us
The disconnect between the onslaught of insistent advertising and the boring work of day-to-day administration reveals something important about our politics.
In an election year where political advertising floods the airways and violates digital spaces everyone would rather be using for something, anything else, it is easy to lose perspective. Especially since the goal of that advertising is to distort perception and focus on just a few quick images, a handful of buzzwords, to suck in the viewer into a vortex of various points and convince them these few things mean the world and you should vote and donate money now, right now, why haven’t you yet?
Good governance is rare, and it is even rarer in political advertising. The boring, mundane things that meet statutory requirements, hold mandatory meetings, make sure the lights are on, water flows, roads mostly (at least by West Virginia standards) stay paved, and so on. The list of things elected officials are supposed to be taking care of varies by position, but one universal truth remains: Doing the work correctly, quietly, competently, usually doesn’t make for an exciting advertisement or fundraising pitch.
To entice that voter engagement and goose up those fundraising numbers, something more than just doing the job well is required. There must be an existential threat to all existence. The ever terrible “them,” “they,” and “those” are coming to take away your “this,” restrict your right to “that,” and will forever ruin for future generations “this, that, and the other,” all of which is defined however the ad protagonist needs. Political ads are mostly cut-and-paste, formatted things, and if one was to really just take them and study them, all the pieces could be rearranged to say the exact opposite with minimal effort and a change in the B-reel film playing behind the fancy word graphics as they come and go.
The disconnect between the onslaught of insistent advertising and the boring work of day-to-day administration reveals something important about our politics. “Politics” the word and term are a multifaceted thing, first appearing around 1529, having woven strains from Aristotle’s ancient Greek filtered through Latin and getting treatment from French and Middle English to get to the term we love to loathe today. But the core definition — the art and science of government and influencing and guiding thereof — is important to remember, especially contrasted with the negative connotations and usage as accusation of wrongdoing or general expression of disgust.
The partisan part of politics is loud, omnipresent, and dominant because that is where the media business models intersect with the passions and interests of the public. Harnessing those passions is how those seeking to gain or hold onto office achieve their goals. Political advertising and the talking head ecosystem are the supporting industries fueling the manufacturing of our political system at large. So, it is more important than ever to stop for a moment and understand that advertising isn’t running a government office, or legislating, or representing a city or county. Those things require real people doing real work, not just characters on the socio-political stage playing the role that they think will bring them fame and fortune.
As all-encompassing as the partisan part of politics is, the struggle between parties and ideologies is more intramural competition within the walls of our system than those blaring ads and talking heads want to really admit. The real struggle in politics is the power structures: Who has them, who can keep the powerful accountable, the funding and movements behind the quest for power, and the people our imperfect system relies on. Regardless of the party, once in office the elected have real power to make real decisions, and all too often that sort of power overrides everything else and gives way to human nature. The old saying doesn’t go “Absolute power creates absolute wonderful” for a reason. Power does corrupt, and given enough unfettered power, all the partisan posturing in the world won’t hold back human nature to use that power beyond confines.
Accountability is the hardest part of politics; it is far harder than going along with the current fad, big name charismatic candidate, reacting to that convincing ad, or being outraged because a talking head told you to be without checking the validity out for yourself. But accountability starts with something as simple as seeing those omnipresent political ads in a hotly contested election year, and deciding for yourself you don’t care to be talked to, talked at really, like that.
Putting the work in to be the most informed citizen possible should be the next step. Then you can use your social media, in-person conversations, and your precious time to advocate, agitate, and advance the things that really matter to you and yours.
That’s the boring, everyday work of being on the voting end of a representative democracy. But if those elected by us are going to be held to account, and they need to be, the voters they represent must set the standard first. Then hold them to it.
It would make things a lot better, political and otherwise. Just don’t expect to see fancy ads about it.
Originally published in The Fayette Tribune on June 13th, 2024.