The Power Principle

One of the enduring falsehoods of American politics, and likely human civilization, is "principle." I am of the opinion that very few, if any, people have genuine principles. Pretty much everyone, on the other had, has interests. And if one knows another person's interests, one will be much better able to predict that person's actions than one will by knowing their stated principles. Part of this, I suspect, is that interests never go anywhere. People always have to eat, find shelter from the elements and a place to sleep, et cetera. Principles, on the other hand, as statements of intent, can be thought of as plans. And plans have a way of needing to be revised upon contact with the reality of the situation.

Given this, I'm sometimes impressed by the tenacity with which people hold on to the idea that they are acting on principle and/or that they expect others to act on principle. Politics in the United States is rife with accusations of hypocrisy, broadly defined as pronouncing one's principles at point in time A, and then proceeding to act in one's interests at point in time B. This happens often enough that no-one comes across a genuinely surprised when it happens. Take, for instance, the refusal of Republicans in the United States Senate, lead by Senator McConnell, to fill a seat on the United States Supreme Court that came open at the end of the Obama Administration, citing the nearness of the next election, and then the rush to fill a seat that opened even closer to the general election at the end of the Trump Administration. Democratic politicians, activists and media sympathizers lobbed charge after charge of hypocrisy. But I'm not aware of a single person who actually found the behavior of Senator McConnell the least bit unexpected. And note here that I'm referring to a person, Senator McConnell, and not the Senate Republicans as a body.

As a layperson, I suspect that the charade is maintained mostly due to the idea that it's somehow inappropriate for people to openly act on their interests. In other words, to use the example above, while Republican voters in Kentucky were completely unperturbed by the about-face on filling Supreme Court vacancies, Senator McConnell seemed to think that coming out and saying "We have the ability to do this, and so we will," would have been unacceptable to them. It's possible that people expect others to live up to principle, even when it's (clearly) not going to be reciprocated, and so Senator McConnell admitting to using power in his possession openly would have been seen as a justification for Democrats doing the same. Not, honestly, that it seems to make any sense to expect that they wouldn't, invitation or not. Again, I don't really know who anyone expects is legitimately being fooled by this.

But I guess this is the point of people being told what they want to hear. In reality, people don't tell themselves that they want to hear something that is untrue or concocted for their benefit. Rather they understand that it's true to some degree or another, and even if it's being spun or embellished, it's not because that's what they requested. And in the United States, the open wielding of power, either oneself or on one's behalf, is frowned upon. Which is perhaps odd, in a nation what so often seeks to openly wield power on the international level. And so a choreographed dance has built up, in which higher principles are said to be the driving forces. It appears to me that everyone actually knows better, but then, I'm an admitted cynic, even if I do tend to believe that people act sincerely, even when they aren't being open about it.

And so principle seems like just another in the long series of things that people tell themselves, because they want them to be true, and they don't examine for that same reason. Even when it doesn't seem to matter. But maybe that's unfair. The point behind the story of The Emperor's New Clothes was that while only the guileless child was willing to say the Emperor was naked, the only other people who failed to compliment his clothing for fear of being inept or unintelligent were the swindlers. Everyone in the story, other than the child and the criminals, acted out of fear of the judgments of others. Perhaps in politics, the public's fear of judgment or harming their interests is so great than even when the Emperor is suspected of being a swindler, no one says anything. Or maybe it's due to convincing themselves that's its true, rather than living in fear that it isn't.