This vitally necessary lesson in policy, politics, advocacy and government is likely to trigger a few people. But you can’t do better until you know better. Northampton’s children — and its future — need you to do both.
Most reasonably informed people know that Citizens United effectively invalidated campaign finance laws, and eventually all ethics and transparency, by flooding our political system with largely unregulated, untraceable money — much of which rich people and corporations used to purchase policymaking and legislation while invalidating the people’s will (by neutralizing their vote).
But apparently people don’t adequately understand why or how it worked.
You know what they say about “knowing just enough to be dangerous?” This is a timely example.
In a “one voice, one vote” system, any mechanism that gives one citizen’s voting preference and thus any particular candidate outsized weight is an unequal, unfair, inequitable advantage.
But, this is precisely the point of a PAC in elections. They’re kingmakers.
The real problem isn’t that we need to make local or “better” ones, it’s that they — and the “untouchable” authoritarians they create — exist in our system at all.
Much like you can’t beat a violent, colonizing nation by becoming one, you can’t beat political system corruption by joining it. Whatever you think you’re doing, you’re actually just part of the problem. After all, every PAC — and each of its supporters — convinces itself the altruism of its motives justify its means.
They’re always wrong and never altruistic.
Every group that coalesces with the goal of consolidating and wielding (outsized) power is inherently corruptible and ripe for infighting but especially at the local level where politics are most personal. They choose winners and losers based on petty politics, personal relationships, egos and groupthink rather than actual policy, likelihood of outcomes or true public benefit.
They dismiss and ignore necessary critique and ostracize those who attempt healthy debate or demand accountability to their stated values.
Support Our Schools Political Action Committee’s (SOSPAC) recent Facebook post soliciting feedback on frustration with their endorsement process is a case-in-point: “We may not agree but we want to hear from you.” The question isn’t whether they’ll agree. It’s whether they can objectively assess their performance and outcomes and take criticism without taking it personally and retaliating.
Genuine humility is the non-negotiable character feature of an actual expert. You aren’t one without it.
But that’s the whole point. These are not strategic, political or policy experts. Nothing qualifies them to tell you who to vote for or to vet the strength or weakness of any candidate’s qualifications, their historical record on the issue (if applicable) or policy recommendations any better or differently than you can.
Worse, they have limited-to-no ability to anticipate, much less mitigate or avoid, unintended or negative outcomes caused by their manipulation in the system.
Perhaps this is why their endorsed candidate for mayor — the executive who controls decisions about which policy priorities and mechanisms to fund and which not to — naively refers to policy as a “mere” part of her job relative to advocacy, which literally isn’t her job.
The mayor is the person to whom the people advocate. The people of Northampton advocate just fine for themselves. A PAC is an advocacy organization.
In fact, many of SOSPAC’s endorsed candidates don’t have any substantive policy recommendations or strategies for achieving them in the hard reality of Northampton’s deeply entrenched government, just vague position statements and experience as parents or educators.
None of those things will get you funding. If they could, you’d already have it.
Be careful what you vote for because you just might get it (nothing).
At the very least, you should probably do your own homework.
Lauren Leigh Rollins is the founder & chief kingbreaker of the Western Massachusetts Policy Center — the only NO PROFIT think tank in the country that creates policy and strategy directly on behalf of the people as a direct public service.