05-24-2020, 05:12 AM
(05-24-2020, 12:17 AM)samhain Wrote: I'm not sure of the point you're trying to make. Do you think a political party exists that wouldn't try to use a pandemic/distressed economy to win an election? Is there some moralistic party out there that's somehow above such behavior?
Some confusion here for sure. Not clear that any party should "be above such behavior"--unless maybe someone doesn't understand what parties are and how they work in a democracy like ours.
It is NEVER the job of any party to say "Oh yeah, go vote for the other guys. They're the better choice this time around." ALL parties campaign by proposing solutions to problems. Ridiculous to think of a party whose platform is "Well, we'd like you to vote for us; but we aren't going to "use" problems to get elected. We're above all that!" Hard to see how good governance could ever come from that.
This is supposed to be an agonistic system in which each party makes a case and the voters decide. Concerning most issues, people can reasonably disagree on alternatives. Though a few special interests may want to prolong the current pandemic for profit, the majority of Americans sincerely want their political leaders to find the best way out of the pandemic and its ill effects. And the majority will vote for whomever appears best able to do that.
So a party "using" the pandemic would have to make a case for the best way out that appealed to the majority, and to stay in power it would have to make good on its promises.
Then it's the job of the voters to decide which party makes the best case and the job of the press thereafter to keep governance transparent and not be intimidated by threats. The majority won't willingly harm their own interests "just to make Trump look bad."
We don't get rounds of bad politicians because they stoop to "using problems" like a pandemic to get elected, but because of what voters want or will settle for, including tolerance of press bashing. Voters who cannot discern competence will get incompetence and settle for scapegoats.