Partisan Politics

Negative campaigning works

The mid-term elections reminded me of the old movie, Network,  in which the character television news anchor Howard Beale was "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” He managed to get a huge following of people who were also “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” And they, like Beale, found someone to blame for all of their problems.

Unfortunately, since 911 it seems that many politicians have decided that they can mobilize support by capitalizing on the fear and anger of the electorate. Witness all of the negative ads that millions and millions of dollars were spent on this time.

And, unfortunately, partisan politics and negative campaigning works. It works to get the politician elected. But at the same time, I believe strongly that it undermines the resilience of the system in which it is practiced. The “for me or against me” mentality doesn’t make the system work any better.  It paralyzes it and will eventually destroy it. If that’s your goal, then using these tactics works very well. If the organization that you’re destroying is a corporation, perhaps you can jump ship and find another host. However, the organization that we are destroying in this country is our government.

In the next few blogs, I would like to discuss how partisan politics and negative campaigning is counter to sustaining the resilience of the system - our government - that we depend on to fix our roads, deliver our mail, protect us from foreign foes, and so many other concerns.

Dr. Ron Breazeale