Why Pathetic Political Leaders Kill Kids
When I first started working in Washington, it was suggested that all new Executive Branch staff receive training about how the Legislative Branch of our government works. And so, for two weeks, I and a group of DC-newcomers attended seminars on “the Hill” about how to engage with the institution that is Congress.
On our first day of training, the facilitator sat us down and said if we were to take just one thing from our two-week session it should be this piece of information: “A congressperson’s number two job is representing their constituents. Their number one job is getting reelected.”
This unfortunate summary completely changed my perspective about American government; it explained so much. It answered so many questions. In fact, this is still the lens through which I view all political posturing, bluster, and rhetoric in Congress, across both sides of the aisle.
Getting elected, and perhaps more importantly getting reelected, is expensive. Congressional elections alone cost over $2.2 billion in 2020. Some of that money comes from voters who make direct donations to their favorite candidate. A lot of that money, however, comes from organizations that fundraise on behalf of a particular political cause and then distribute those funds to the horse they are most capable of controlling in the race.
Consider the behavioral economics of this arrangement. A politician’s singular motivation is winning an election. One helpful way to win an election is to raise ungodly sums of money. Fundraising organizations dole out large chunks of cash in exchange for loyalty to a political cause. The incentives are, by definition, perverse.
Yet understandably, so many are wondering at this moment how a politician can, on Monday, give a rousing speech about the sanctity of life, the protection of children, and the heartbeat of a fetus, and then, on Tuesday, be presented with a way to literally remove instruments of murder from the hands of child murderers yet do nothing.
Ten years ago, before my training on the Hill, this would have puzzled me as well. But it doesn’t anymore. We don’t elect political leaders. We instead elect savvy fundraisers who pledge allegiance to quid pro quo, who operate out of self-preservation and their own best interest. We elect those whose service to constituents, including the children of those constituents, is a mere afterthought in the name of hypocrisy and well-funded idolatry.
Want to better understand why a politician can claim to be “pro-life” yet do nothing to end school shootings? Just make a Venn diagram between candidate donations made by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and pro-life groups. (It’s worth noting, reported totals are often only traceable donations made above-board. The untraceable sums from dark money sources can be much greater. For example, consider the federal lawsuit brought against the NRA for illegally distributing $35 million to candidates through shell companies over the last few years.)
I finally realize the larger point our congressional trainer was trying to make when he succinctly explained the priorities of a congressperson: these people are pathetic.
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Co-authored by David Brendel and Ryan Stelzer, Think Talk Create: Building Workplaces Fit for Humans was published by the Hachette Book Group under the PublicAffairs imprint on September 21, 2021. Now available to order!
