The title is a quote I read this week in Readers Digest, where famous people noted the best advice they ever received. It was offered by Paul Steiger, the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. This quote resonated with me as it sums up the objective of politicians. “You don’t want to win the argument, you want to get your way.” And, this is one of the problems.
With it taking so much money to get elected, politicians are beholden to an oligarchy of donors whose influence is significant. They are the kinds of people who want their calls answered or returned immediately. When you shell out tens (or hundreds) of millions of dollars, you want the representative to represent your interests.
Being right or winning an argument is irrelevant. These folks just want to get their way. This is a key reason non-sensical arguments continue in the public vernacular. The oligarchy wants its way. They want to perpetuate their business model at all costs, even if the model is dangerous to people or the environment. They want to be protected if the market starts to buy fewer of their product, as free market capitalism to them is only I can get help, not you.
If you think about major issues, be it doing something about climate change, paying people better, governing gun use and sales better, protecting the financial interests of consumers, making sure people have access to health care, etc., the oligarchy does not want anything standing in their way. They want their economic engine firing on all cylinders.
Being right matters little. It is even more true today, when these folks can spin-doctor and influence pseudo news sources to make folks believe that their revenue generation is more apple pie than getting all people a square deal. This is why it is critical to advocate for change in our voting and campaign laws. They do not want to change the laws, as their influence has been enhanced by recent changes. This is why it is also critical to stay informed from good sources of news and information.
We can win arguments, but it takes effort. We win by knowing, understanding, repeating and advocating the right thing. It is already an uphill climb, so we better get our mountain boots on and start. That is the only way the right way will be the winning way.