Search results

In Politicians Don't Pander, Lawrence Jacobs & Robert Shapiro show that politicians follow public opinion much less slavishly than conventional wisdom suggests. However, the case studies they themselves rely on show that public opinion constrains policymakers more than they claim. Conversely, to the extent that political leaders are able to ignore the public's wishes, Jacobs & Shapiro do not adequately consider the possibility that this is due in large part to severe voter ignorance of public policy. In urging greater obedience to the popular will, the authors also overlook the danger that increased adherence to the often internally contradictory wishes of the electorate may be impossible or undesirable. 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

At head of title: The works of F. Marion Crawford. ; Mode of access: Internet.

At head of title: The works of F. Marion Crawford. ; Mode of access: Internet.

The political potency of national history has been understood for generations. Yet there has been an unquestionable surge in history's political influence over the last twenty or thirty years, as the various history wars that have broken out around the world attest. Australia has been no exception: disputes over its national story continue to generate considerable controversy in the media, in politics and in public debate. But how has this politicisation of the past affected Australian political history in the present? This paper examines how history is practised in contemporary Australian politics — and notices an increasingly strategic use of the past by politicians in recent years.

Citation: Tucker, Walter Percival. Be a politician. Senior thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1892. ; Morse Department of Special Collections ; Introduction: An election was recently held in one of our large cities. Voters, as usual, were scattered about discussing the candidates and the general situation. Presently one of them was approached by a very pleasant looking man, who leisurely sauntered up to our voter, shook hands, chatted a few moments, and gave him a cigar, which was of course put to use. Then after some more chatting he produced a ticket having on it the names of some special friends—good, straight forward men—for whom he'd like the voter to cast his ballot; indeed, he would give him a dollar to do so. And to complete the little episode, the voter presently dropped the ticket into the ballot box and the dollar into his pocket. Then our genteel friend wandered on to fresh pastures. That man was a politician, as we generally consider the term; but not the politician I have in mind. The one to whom I would ask your indulgence is not he whose livelihood depends upon his success at bribery among the voters; but he is the voter himself—the voter not led by unprincipled demagogues who would keep him in ignorance of the good qualities of an opposing platform or candidate and fire him with passion against the other party; but the voter who investigates for himself, thinks for himself, and acts for himself—the voter who reads both parties' papers, hears both parties' speakers, and studies the question under dispute from the lefty standpoint of a truth-seeker—not that of an office-seeker--, and the voter who then applies the knowledge thus acquired with the laudable intention of benefitting as much as possible the public.