Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Sound & fury, signifying pandering”
by DON BOUDREAUX on NOVEMBER 30, 2021
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This Government-R-Us theory is far too shaky to take seriously. So I offer an alternative answer to the question, “What is democratic government?”
My answer is: theater.
From the president down to midlevel staffers in Uncle Sam’s sprawling bureaucracies, each and every government official is acting.
Each senator is aware that he’ll be judged largely by the quality of the words he speaks publicly. Each House member knows that she is performing for an audience.
The president, of course, is less an executor of the legislature’s statutes than he is the starring attraction in the ongoing 24/7 tragicomedy known as “American Government.”
With exceptions too few to matter, the chief goal of each and every one of these officials is to convince the audience that he or she “cares” about us — that he or she feels our pain — that he or she routinely sacrifices for the good of America, possesses insights denied to less-exalted people and — if only the other party would stop being so blasted obstructionist — will perform wonderful feats that no one else can perform.
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Remember that politicians and bureaucrats follow the three “rules” of politics.
Remember the three “laws” of political motivation: (1) reward your friends; (2) punish your enemies; and (3) feather your own nest.
Part of this “theater” is to continually show that they “care” about you and your problems.
It’s all an act. All “barbara streisand”. All bull <synonym for excrement>!
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Reinke Faces Life 