Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Tide

Low tide in Roscoff, Brittany, France (in the Morlaix area)If the anti-incumbent tide is as strong as some people think it is, I will be swept out, despite all my efforts. If the anti-incumbent tide is a lot of conversation, but has no center of gravity as a true political movement, then I'll be just fine. There's no way to know.

-- Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-UT), New York Times, 26 March 2010

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think the tide is strong. Here is Upstate NY we have a "Fed Up with Albany" campaign, that argues for throwing out many (all?) of the incumbents.

Don Appleman said...

I like the sound of throwing them all out, but I'll continue to vote on them one at a time. Interesting times ....

My point is that a sweeping contempt for all involved in the political game must be self-defeating. Not only is it surely wrong (some politicians being good), but its lack of discrimination robs incumbents of any need to attend to the wishes of people pursuing the reject-everybody strategy.

Anyone who will vote against them unconditionally begs to be ignored. And leaves the field to the vested interests to carry the day.

- John Gilpin