Continuing with Pew and polls. Most Americans, both D and R, dislike data centers, and mobilize strongly to protest data centers in their city or neighborhood. The people agree on this question.
Here’s a puzzle. The “two” “parties” actually DIFFER on this question, not just in talking points. Repooflicans force people to accept data centers, Democrats work effectively to ban them.
I can’t think of any other issue where one “party” is CONCRETELY DOING WHAT THE MAJORITY WANTS. On all other matters from economics to crime to war, both “parties” are united against the people.
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Another puzzle. I’ve been reading Evan Barker’s book ‘Nothing Left’ about the inner world of politics. It’s grim. Politicians spend huge amounts of time on the phone begging rich fuckheads for money. They have very little time or energy for actual legislative work.
Contrast this with recent studies showing a weak correlation between campaigning and winning. Publicity helps an unknown candidate to gain attention for the first election, but after the first it doesn’t make much difference. We judge politicians by what they’ve done for us (or our tribe), not by the campaign.
Politicians must understand this non-correlation. Why do they keep listening to the consultants who force them and coach them through long days of calling and begging? Why don’t they rebel and start GETTING SHIT DONE, since GETTING SHIT DONE is what the people want?
The setup smells like Parkinson or even extortion. Consultants need to keep the politicians slaving so the consultants can take their percentage. Reminds me of Pharmacy Benefit Managers, a parasitic middle layer that inserted itself and got its hooks into the real workers.
Later and maybe clearer. Middle layers aren’t necessarily bad. Grocers and car dealers depend on wholesalers instead of buying directly from farmers or carmakers. Wholesalers negotiate with the sources and often store or process the products in ways that the retailer can’t afford. Some of the political consultants in Barker’s book are wholesalers (bundlers), gathering money, processing and shipping it to politicians. My real question is whether the RESOURCE is needed, not whether the wholesaler is needed. Grocers need bread and beef and toothpaste. Politicians don’t need nearly as much money as the consultants want them to think.
Polistra's Mill 