Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
The End of Wonkery

The End of Wonkery

Last updated on: June 12, 2004 at 7:37 pm by Fred Clark

5 Comments

The End of Wonkery 2004-06-12T19:37:51-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Some interesting comments today in a triple play from Atrios to Kevin Drum over to Brad DeLong and back to Atrios, 6-4-3-6.

The subject is "wonkery" — which is to say the continuing relevance or irrelevance of debating policy on the merits of that policy. Here's a summary:

Atrios: I've declared "the age of wonk" has been over for some time. There's little point in having serious policy debates about anything.

Kevin: I happen to love policy wonkery, but I feel the same way. … I mean, I keep doing it because I can hardly bear to admit that it doesn't make any difference anymore, but as near as I can tell nobody in power cares two cents about actual policy these days. It doesn't matter whether something actually works better or worse than some other thing, only whether or not it helps your own team.

Brad: It has not always been like that. It was not like that in the Clinton administration. It was not like that as far as foreign policy was concerned in the Bush I administration when Brent Scowcroft ran the National Security Council. It was not like that in the Ford administration.

And, even today, policy wonkery is still absolutely vital within the Democratic-Independent sphere. It's only the Republicans who are a lost cause.

It's very important that we continue to think and plan — to seek truth from facts, as it were.

Atrios: He's right. It has not always been like that. …

But during the 2000 election, the press got stupid and declared it all too complicated to understand. Regarding Bush and Gore's budget numbers, which were clear as day for all to see, Ted Koppel remarked on Larry King "You know, honestly, it turns my brains to mush. I can’t pretend for a minute that I’m really able to follow the argument of the debates. Parts of it, yes. Parts of it, I haven't a clue what they're talking about." There was outward hostility not only to the notion that candidates would gain supporters by talking policy seriously (a longtime press CW), but outward hostility to the notion that policy mattered at all. …

Now there is only partisanship. Everything is viewed entirely through that lense. All policy proposals are pandering, and all differences one of appeal not substance.

All of which calls to mind this observation from Evelyn Waugh:

"Politicians are not people who seek power in order to implement policies they think are necessary. They are people who seek policies in order to attain power."

President George W. Bush has repeatedly asserted that he does not pay attention to polls. (He has also repeatedly cited those same polls — although I'm sure that Bush's defenders can offer elaborate rationales to explain why this repeated brazen contradiction does not constitute an actual "lie.")

The point of this impossible-to-reconcile-with-his-own-statements-elsewhere blather about "not listening to polls" is an attempt to portray himself as a principled leader — the kind of person that Waugh says politicians are not. He is attempting, in other words, to portray himself as someone who seeks power in order to implement policies he thinks are necessary rather than as someone who simply latches on to whatever policies he thinks will help him to attain and retain power. (Steel tariffs, anyone? Mars mission?)

Bush's attempts to portray himself in this light fail for two reasons.

First, the nature of the constituency to which Bush is pandering is different than it was in Waugh's time due to the increased importance of campaign money in contemporary politics. Consider almost any piece of legislation promoted by the Bush administration and you will find policies whose main virtue is that they pander to constituents the administration thinks will help them retain power. Yet those constituents are not voters — not the public in general. They are donors. And the policies advocated by the Bush administration often benefit these donors to the detriment of the majority of voters (e.g. Cheney's energy plan, a Medicare reform package that makes it illegal to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs).

In an earlier age, a pandering politician pandered to the voters. He might be completely unprincipled, but at least he was, more or less, heeding the will of the electorate. These days, politicians pander to donors in the hopes that doing so will raise enough money — $200 million! — to buy enough airtime and ad time to convince voters that they are at least better than the irredeemably evil straw man they are running against.

Consider the difference between George W. Bush and former Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.). Shuster was haunted by suspicions of corruption and he seemed largely unprincipled — motivated entirely by porkbarrel politics. Yet at least the people of Altoona got some quality jobs building those turnpike offramps to Shuster's relatives' restaurants. And the roads around Altoona are very, very nice. Bush is like Shuster, only we don't even get the highways and the patronage jobs.

But the second and more important reason that Bush's anti-poll posturing fails to portray him as someone "who seeks power in order to implement policies he thinks are necessary" is that he seems unable to answer the question "'Necessary' for what?"

I've titled this post "The End of Wonkery" not because "the age of wonk" is over, but because ultimately the relevance or irrelevance of policy — of means — has to do with the ends of that policy. What is wonkery for?

The possible answers pretty much boil down to two. It is either for the attainment of raw power, or else it is for the common good.

The common good is the end — the purpose — of wonkery. That's why President Bush has little patience for it.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 11, 2004

Cain & Abel, Church & State

Next Post

June 15, 2004 L.B.: Sorrow Floats

Recent Comments

5 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group believes in "baptism by immersion only"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Lutherans Baptists Catholics Presbyterians