Get Back on Track

The term "third rail" is political slang for issues that are sidetracked because they are politically charged and likely to deter voters. Sidetracking is common in American politics today, in issues ranging from health care to the federal budget. Does the sidetracking of crucial issues help or hurt voters in the long run?

We can definitely say that last month's budget impasse was third-railed. Clinton recently reprimanded his top political adviser, Dick Morris, about the disclosure of polling data to the Dole campaign. Based on confidential figures and estimates, Morris sent a message advising Dole to support Clinton's mainstay, a seven-year balanced budget deal including a capital gains cut and a $500-per-child tax credit.

What's interesting here are not the specifics of the plan, which could presumably garner votes for Dole, but the fact, implicit in the disclosure, that polling data is used for political ends. The message that Morris really sent to Dole was that Dole should sidestep his personal convictions and even reasoned opinions by conforming to public wishes in order to gain votes.

Polling data, then, is often used more for gauging possible voter outcomes in hopes of winning elections than for assessing popular opinion in hopes of serving public interest. Devil's advocate, the polls simply reflect public opinion. Isn't the practice of basing decisions on polls noble and fair as long as the public is heard and popular opinion expressed in the upper echelons of the government?

No. Because popular opinion is not necessarily expressed. Morris' memo specified that Dole would lose the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries if he did not follow Morris' advice. Since Dole is from Kansas, the fact that New Hampshire and Iowa would affect his political decisions could shift his concern to states other than Kansas. Dole would act neither as a Senator nor a Statesman should, because his attention would not be focused on his state. This politicking is so ingrained in the political process that it doesn't seem wrong.

Of course, Dole did not go along, and the whole story was exposed and made public, but the Morris incident is a window to the inner workings of politics in Washington. It seems as though tunnel vision on the part of politicians hurts the American people in the long run because it necessitates third-railing. The federal budget negotiations were third-railed and resulted in an impasse. Schools all over the country floundered to make crucial staff decisions without knowing how much money they would receive from Uncle Sam. Result: contingency layoffs, and the impasse had even more far-reaching results in its general slowing of the economy.

Health care is another issue that has been third-railed. Granted, the process takes time, but party bickering and concern for voter reactions consumed most of the politicians' energy. Especially with medical care, politicians are supposed to be disinterested persons weighing the people's wants alongside practical considerations and informed opinions from doctors and health administrators. Instead, as we witnessed in the Health Care War I, many of the battles over health care were battles for credit and, ultimately, votes.

In issues such as the federal budget, health care and even environmental regulation, opinion polls should be left out of the whole policy-making process completely. Politicians should act on their strong convictions. Or, allow polls to completely determine policy. In that gray area between public determination and true statesmanship, politicians have their heyday. And the American people (people, not just "voters") have a bad day. In the current political process, "voters" are "third-railed."