The factions that came to depend on the largesse of the Democratic-run governments became clients of the national party, much as the Irish in New York were clients of their patrons in Tammany Hall.  They would vote for the party in every election, and the party in turn would see to it that their interests were well represented in Washington.  In many instances these factions were committed to the grand ideological project of the progressive wing of the party, but they also had narrower priorities to which the party was obliged to respond, as payment for their electoral support.

In time, these groups would overwhelm the party. As we shall see, it would become nearly impossible for party leaders to keep this diverse group of clients happy while simultaneously governing in the public interest.  After the 1960s, there were just too many mouths to feed.  The environmentalists want something. So do the feminists. So do the consumer advocates. So do the miscellaneous well-heeled groups in the New Politics left.  So do the industrial and craft labor unions.  So do government labor union.  So do African Americans.

After you satisfy all of these groups, how can you advance the public interest?  Where will you find the time in the relatively short legislative sessions?  After all the effort to appease your clients, how do you muster the political capital to do anything else? Considering how far the interests of some of these groups are from the middle-of-the-road voters, it’s all but inevitable that at least one group will demand an item that comes at the expense of almost everybody else.  What do you do then?  What do you do when the country genuinely wants a break from liberal reforms, but your clients demand that these reforms continue unabated?  What do you do when the country requires reform of the government, but your clients depend on those programs in question?  What do you do when the middle class has had enough income redistribution, but your clients need more dollars transferred from the tax payers to them?

From Spoiled Rotten by Jay Cost

HKO comments:

Both parties have often assembled coalitions of special interests to get a governing majority.  Democrats for decades pieced together the union vote and northern progressive interests with southern racist Democrats.  Reagan may have won because the GOP was able to piece together supply sider business interests with the new fundamentalist moral majority who were ‘shocked’ into action by Roe v Wade.

It is notable that Scott Walker got 38% of the vote of union households in his recall victory.  Part of the challenge to the Democrats is that the pendulum has simply swung too far with many constituents and the voters sense they are not being treated fairly.  Secondly the economic recession has made it clear that we can no longer afford generous endowments to political special interests.

And thirdly, the progressives are the victims of their own victory.  Women have advanced in the workplace and now make up the majority of college graduates. Minorities no longer face the blatant discrimination of the 1950’s.   What was radical then is now accepted and the young women and minorities entering the workforce now take those victories for granted; it is not the mobilizing political force it was for their parents.

Our political gridlock may be less of a conflict between the two dominant parties than it is a conflict between the special interest clients of the parties and the greater voting public.

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