Months ago, when the former Gov.
Edwin Edwards, after being a guest of the federal government for 102 months, launched
his campaign for Congress, already
noted then were his general reasons for running: as an attempt to make
people’s last memory of him as a campaigner and politician that invites recounting
of his past triumphs instead of as a pathetic felon; to assist Sen. Mary Landrieu’s reelection efforts by
boosting turnout for her among his yellow-dog supporters (in theory; possibly
this could backfire as those who feel acrimoniously about him may come to vote
to levy a form of punishment and also vote disproportionately against her); and
to boost his ego by providing another opportunity to treat (as many politicians
do) every vote he receives as a sign of adulation for him as a human being.
Redemption isn’t relevant; he has neither the wisdom nor self-awareness to accept
what he did that got him put away in the slammer was wrong.
Nor should he, his campaign
palaver aside, expect to win absent fantastic occurrences, such as making the
runoff (probably the most likely do so as the only quality Democrat in the
contest) and then having a Republican opponent get caught with a live boy or
dead girl. He may whistle into the wind about raising more than a million
dollars for the effort, but the only reason might come close is as an indirect
means for others to give beyond limits to Landrieu.
Few people watched the ratings-impaired
reality television show featuring him as second banana to this third wife,
so that factors in to his decision to go for the Sixth District seat not so
much as him wanting to erase that impression out of people’s minds as it does
as a form of spousal payback. He graciously allowed her to feed her ego by
cooperating with that TV pursuit; now it’s time for her to return the favor,
which she appears to be doing enthusiastically.
Yet there’s a larger message emanating
from this quixotic venture. Note that the reasons for running primarily are about
him and what he wants, and that is not unexpected given the state’s political
culture. Edwards proved himself as one of the best exploiters of the populism
infested in that culture – the belief in a war of all against all, of politics
as a zero-sum game, and that political enemies are so evil that power must be
obtained to punish them in order to reward the good that are by definition
friends and allies. Deep down, it is a rejection of the idea that politics should
serve as an instrument to allow empowering the individual through removing the
temptation posed by power concentrated in the state. It makes the politician the
revered giver of laws and largesse because of the aggrandizing of
self-conception of him that this permits, an understanding few of them allow
themselves to realize about which most cloak with a mythology that they fight
for “the people” against illusory bogeyman alleged to usurp excessive political
and economic power.
Self-interest and ego boosting of
officials echo the Faustian bargain aspect to the promise of representative
democracy’s translation of informed public preferences into policy. In bringing
superior policy to the people, the individuals perhaps best equipped to get
that accomplished are those who see those kinds of intrinsic awards as
important, and how to get them to produce beneficial policy instead of craven
self-gratification has been on the mind of democratic theorists since philosopher-Pres.
James Madison.
While individuals of any political stripe therefore may succumb to fulfilling
their own wants first and foremost to reject this balancing, the very Manichean
nature of populism creates additional disincentives to serve the public good.
Simply, populism is less likely
to produce superior public policy because to a greater degree those officials
wedded to it put their needs ahead of those of all of the people. That typified
Louisiana’s political culture and policy for decades – a tradition in which
Edwards expresses pride. However, it is a tradition eroding as people become
smarter and more informed about politics, where they realize they don’t need
saviors and/or mountebanks dispensing goodies to them when government that
lightens its touch will permit them to do for themselves and better without
deprivation of their basic liberties.
There always will be those who
lack confidence in themselves, who are too lazy to control of their lives, or
who see as their strengths ability to manipulate and feel a sense of born
superiority over others that will gravitate towards liberal populism. But that
proportion of the population continues to erode from better education gained and
information made available that has typified the public in the realm of
politics over recent years, perhaps intensified in Louisiana comparatively.
Which leads to a declining base of supporters for the likes of Edwards. For
that reason, his motivation for running for office remains the same as it did
60 years ago, but, given his past typical success in winning, the result in
2014 will turn out vastly different.
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