Today at my weekly Rotary Club meeting, I heard Rep. Julie Johnson from District 115 in the Texas House of Representatives speak. She was elected in 2019. Representatives in the Texas House are basically volunteers. They make $600 a month. Luckily, Rep. Johnson is a lawyer who has her own firm employing other lawyers. The Texas House of Representatives has 150 members, each elected for a two-year term. Normally, it meets for five months every other year in regular session. So, it would still be possible for some people to run a business and represent the state at the same time. However, this past year several special sessions have been called by the governor. So, Rep. Johnson said she had a lot less time to earn money as a lawyer. I have found there are usually two types of politicians — those who choose the job for whatever perks or attention it may bring them and those who are truly dedicated public servants. Rep. Johnson talked about never forgetting what it was like when she was in law school living on boxes of mac and cheese. She repeated often, “You must never forget where you came from.” Because of redistricting, Rep Johnson now represents the entire town of Addison instead of a small sliver. She seemed genuinely interested in getting to know the 18 people at the meeting and urged us to stay in touch. Being a politician is not an easy life. Because you are constantly in the public eye, you may be criticized for every move you make. I think you have to be brave or oblivious to be a politician. Let’s learn more about them.
According to Wikipedia, a politician is a person active in party politics or a person holding or seeking an elected seat in government. Politicians propose, support and create laws that govern the land and — by extension — its people. Broadly speaking, a "politician" can be anyone who seeks to achieve political power in the government.
Politicians are people who are politically active, especially in party politics. Political positions range from local governments to state governments to federal governments to international governments. All elected representatives are considered politicians.
Media and rhetoric
Politicians are known for their rhetoric, as in speeches or campaign advertisements. They are especially known for using common themes that allow them to develop their political positions in terms familiar to the voters. Politicians of necessity become expert users of the media. Politicians in the 19th century made heavy use of newspapers, magazines and pamphlets, as well as posters. In the 20th century, they branched into radio and television, making television commercials the single most expensive part of an election campaign. In the 21st century, they have become increasingly involved with the social media based on the internet and smartphones.
Rumor has always played a major role in politics, with negative rumors about an opponent typically more effective than positive rumors about one's own side.
Government job and spoils
Once elected, the politician has to deal with government officials and government employees working for him/her. Historically, there has been a subtle conflict between the long-term goals of each side. In patronage-based systems, such as the United States in the 19th century, winning politicians replace the government officials and government employees not protected under the government job rules with their supporters. It was the "spoils system." Government job reform was initiated to eliminate the corruption of government jobs. However, in many less developed countries, the spoils system is in full-scale operation today.
Careers and biographies
Mattozzi and Merlo argue that two main career paths are typically followed by politicians in modern democracies. First, come the career politicians. They are politicians who rule the government sector until retirement. Second, are the "political careerists." These are politicians who gain a reputation for expertise in ruling certain levels of government such as international governments, federal governments, state governments and local governments, then leave politics and start a new business venture making use of their political contacts.
The personal histories of politicians have been frequently studied, as it is presumed that their experiences and characteristics shape their beliefs and behaviors. There are four pathways by which a politician's biography could influence their leadership style and abilities. The first is that biography may influence one's core beliefs, which are used to shape a worldview. The second is that politicians' skills and competence are influenced by personal experience. The areas of skill and competence can define where they devote resources and attention as a leader. The third pathway is that biographical attributes may define and shape political incentives. A leader's previous profession, for example, could be viewed as of higher importance, causing a disproportionate investment of leadership resources to ensure the growth and health of that profession, including former colleagues. Other examples besides profession include the politician's innate characteristics, such as race or gender. The fourth pathway is how a politician's biography affects their public perception, which can, in turn, affect their leadership style. Female politicians, for example, may use different strategies to attract the same level of respect given to male politicians.
Characteristics
Numerous scholars have studied the characteristics of politicians, comparing those at the local and national levels, comparing the more liberal or the more conservative ones and comparing the more successful and less successful in terms of elections. In recent years, special attention has focused on the distinctive career path of women politicians. For example, there are studies of the "Supermadre" model in Latin American politics.
Many politicians have the knack to remember thousands of names and faces and recall personal anecdotes about their constituents; it is an advantage in the job, rather like being seven-foot tall for a basketball player. United States Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were renowned for their memories.
Criticism
Many critics attack politicians for being out of touch with the public. Areas of friction include how politicians speak, which has been described as being overly formal and filled with many euphemistic and metaphorical expressions and commonly perceived as an attempt to "obscure, mislead and confuse."
In the popular image, politicians are thought of as clueless, selfish, manipulators, liars, incompetents and corrupt, taking money in exchange for goods or services, rather than working for the general public good. Politicians in many countries are regarded as the "most hated professionals."
Colonial origins of American political culture
The American political culture is deeply rooted in the colonial experience and the American Revolution. The colonies were unique within the European world for their vibrant political culture, which attracted ambitious young men into politics. At the time, American suffrage was the most widespread in the world, with every man who owned a certain amount of property allowed to vote. Despite the fact that fewer than 1% of British men could vote, most white American men were eligible. While the roots of democracy were apparent, deference was typically shown to social elites in colonial elections, although this declined sharply with the American Revolution. In each colony a wide range of public and private business was decided by elected bodies, especially the assemblies and county governments. Topics of public concern and debate included land grants, commercial subsidies and taxation, as well as the oversight of roads, poor relief, taverns and schools. Americans spent a great deal of time in court, as private lawsuits were very common. Legal affairs were overseen by local judges and juries, with a central role for trained lawyers. This structure promoted the rapid expansion of the legal profession, and the dominant role of lawyers in politics was apparent by the 1770s, with notable individuals including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, among many others. The American colonies were unique in world context because of the growth of representation of different interest groups. Unlike Europe, where the royal court, aristocratic families and the established church were in control, the American political culture was open to merchants, landlords, petty farmers, artisans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Germans, Scotch Irish, Yankees, Yorkers and many other identifiable groups. Over 90% of the representatives elected to the legislature lived in their districts, unlike England where it was common to have a member of Parliament and absentee member of Parliament. Finally — and most dramatically — Americans were fascinated by and increasingly adopted the political values of Republicanism, which stressed equal rights, the need for virtuous citizens and the evils of corruption, luxury and aristocracy. None of the colonies had political parties of the sort that formed in the 1790s, but each had shifting factions that vied for power.
American ideology
Republicanism — along with a form of classical liberalism — remains the dominant ideology. Central documents include the Declaration of Independence (1776), Constitution (1787), Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers (1787-1790s), Bill of Rights (1791) and Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863), among others. The core tenets of this ideology include:
- Civic duty: Citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government,
participate in elections, pay taxes and perform military service.
- Opposition to political corruption.
- Democracy: The government is answerable to citizens, who may change the representatives through elections.
- Equality before the law: The laws should attach no special privilege to any citizen. Government officials are subject to the law just as others are.
- Freedom of speech: The government cannot restrict through law or action the personal, nonviolent speech of a citizen, a marketplace of ideas.
At the time of the United States' founding, the economy was predominantly one of agriculture and small private businesses, and state governments left welfare issues to private or local initiative. As in the UK and other industrialized countries, laissez-faire ideology was largely discredited during the Great Depression. Between the 1930s and 1970s, fiscal policy was characterized by the Keynesian consensus, a time during which modern American liberalism dominated economic policy virtually unchallenged. Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, laissez-faire ideology has once more become a powerful force in American politics. While the American welfare state expanded more than threefold after WWII, it has been at 20% of GDP since the late 1970s. Today, modern American liberalism and modern American conservatism are engaged in a continuous political battle, characterized by what the Economist describes as "greater divisiveness [and] close, but bitterly fought elections."
Before World War II, the United States pursued a noninterventionist policy of foreign affairs by not taking sides in conflicts between foreign powers. The country abandoned this policy when it became a superpower, and the country mostly supports internationalism.
Researchers have looked at authoritarian values. The main argument of this paper is that long-run economic changes from globalization have a negative impact on the social identity of historically dominant groups, leading to an increase in authoritarian values because of an increased incentive to force minority groups to conform to social norms.
Political parties
The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties, primarily because the founding fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan.
In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions. In addition, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president and remains to this day the only independent to have held the office. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation. Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers, including Hamilton and Madison.
In partisan elections, candidates are nominated by a political party or seek public office as an independent. Each state has significant discretion in deciding how candidates are nominated, and thus eligible to appear on the election ballot. Typically, major party candidates are formally chosen in a party primary or convention, whereas minor party and Independents are required to complete a petitioning process.
Organization of American political parties
American political parties are more loosely organized than those in other countries. The two major parties, in particular, have no formal organization at the national level that controls membership. Thus, for an American to say that they are a member of the Democratic or Republican party is quite different from a Briton's stating that they are a member of the Conservative or Labour parties. In most U.S. states, a voter can register as a member of one or another party and/or vote in the primary election for one or another party. A person may choose to attend meetings of one local party committee one day and another party committee the next day.
Party identification becomes somewhat formalized when a person runs for partisan office. In most states, this means declaring oneself a candidate for the nomination of a particular party and intent to enter that party's primary election for an office. A party committee may choose to endorse one or another of those who is seeking the nomination, but in the end, the choice is up to those who choose to vote in the primary, and it is often difficult to tell who is going to do the voting.
The result is that American political parties have weak central organizations and little central ideology, except by consensus. A party really cannot prevent a person who disagrees with the majority of positions of the party or actively works against the party's aims from claiming party membership, so long as the voters who choose to vote in the primary elections elect that person. Once in office, an elected official may change parties simply by declaring such intent.
At the federal level, each of the two major parties has a national committee that acts as the hub for much fund-aising and campaign activities, particularly in presidential campaigns. The exact composition of these committees is different for each party, but they are made up primarily of representatives from state parties and affiliated organizations and others important to the party. However, the national committees do not have the power to direct the activities of members of the party.
Both parties also have separate campaign committees which work to elect candidates at a specific level. The most significant of these are the Hill committees, which work to elect candidates to each house of Congress.
State parties exist in all fifty states, though their structures differ according to state law, as well as party rules at both the national and the state level.
Despite these weak organizations, elections are still usually portrayed as national races between the political parties. In what is known as "presidential coattails," candidates in presidential elections become the de facto leader of their respective party, and thus usually bring out supporters who in turn then vote for his or her party's candidates for other offices. On the other hand, federal midterm elections — where only Congress and not the president is up for election — are usually regarded as a referendum on the sitting president's performance, with voters either voting in or out the president's party's candidates, which in turn helps the next session of Congress to either pass or block the president's agenda, respectively.
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