Government for special interests

The problem with special-interest conservatives is not that such agenda items violate their greater principles on any given point, any more than the policies promoted by Democratic interests violate liberal principles. Rather, it's that the entire enterprise of running Washington as a special-interest spoils system breeds a bloated, ineffective government - which does very much go against conservative principle. Ten years ago, conservatives defined themselves in large measure by their belief in less government. Many still view themselves that way, but the self-conception no longer has anything to do with reality. ...[F[or the 101 biggest programs that the Contract With America Republicans proposed to eliminate as unnecessary in 1995, spending has now risen 27 percent under a continuously Republican Congress. Interest-Group Conservatism, Jacob Weisberg, 'Slate'.

What goes for the United States goes for the other western democracies. The identity of the special interests changes, but the consequences don't: government that keeps growing, but fails to achieve society's social and environmental goals. And the consequence of that? A widening gap between government and the people, and a self-perpetuating lack of public participation in the political process. Even with postal voting, the turnout in yesterday's UK general election amounted to about 60 per cent. Only when politicians stop catering to special interests, and start focusing on what real people want, will this change. And that won't happen until they start expressing their policy goals in terms of broad, transparent, explicit, verifiable outcomes.