Prescient?

The American people seem to be doing less and less thinking for themselves and they seem to have less and less knowledge of the history and basic principles of the American Republic....It seems to me that the people have come to form their opinions, not from facts and their own thinking, but the thinking and opinions of others. Perhaps it is due to the development of motion pictures and radio. To listen to either requires only the slightest mental effort. They are a kind of education or recreation which gives knowledge without thought....The truth is that there is hardly one [commentator or columnist] who has not a strong bias for one philosophy or another, for one party or another, for one man or another. This they attempt to conceal, and the unthinking are likely to take them at their own estimate of impartiality....The radio is a peculiarly plausible instrument, more so than the written word....But even the news today in many newspapers is given a strong slant in the direction of the paper's policy....Public opinion is formed without any real knowledge or analysis of the facts of the issues.
-Robert A. Taft (1947)

Election 2012

The candidates should heed the advice of the Clinton campaign of twenty years ago: "It's the economy stupid!" Anything else is merely a distraction.

Question

When did the media start calling special interest groups "advocacy groups?"

Politics July 2011

Of course the big political news this month is whether Congress can reach some sort of agreement on the debt ceiling and the budget. What we have here is...failure...to communicate. Republicans and Democrats alike are entrenched in their positions. Republicans don't want to raise taxes, Democrats don't want to cut entitlements. If we look back at the earlier entry from T. Harry Williams, we are reminded that politicians need to compromise and cut the best deal possible for the most people. Failure on the part of Congress means they are not doing what we elected them to do. Unfortunately, what is happening in Washington at this time falls into the category of J. H. Plumb's definition of politics: it is all about power. A more earthy way to put it: the Debt Crisis has devolved into a dick-measuring contest.

Another Political Truism

It was patronage that cemented the political system, held it together, and made it an almost impregnable citadel, impervious to defeat, indifferent to social change. And yet there are historians who dismiss eighteenth-century patronage as little more than private charity. This is absurd, and arises from considering the pecuniary awards of place only. Place was power; patronage was power; and power is what men in politics are after. After 1715, power could not be achieved through party and so the rage of party gave way to the pursuit of place.
-J. H. Plumb. The Origins of Political Stability: England, 1685-1725. (189)

Political Truism- Possibly Archaic

If the politician is not a philosopher putting into effect eternal principles, what then is he? He is, and here we may speak of what may be termed the ordinary or average politician, an adjuster and a broker of the many conflicting and competitive interests in a democratic society. His role is not to ram one set of interests through but to compromise with all of them so that everybody can live with the settlement. When the politician is considered in this framework, he immediately appears in a much more favorable stance-he is the man who makes democracy work.
-T. Harry Williams. "Trends in Southern Politics. " in The Idea of the South, Frank Vandiver editor. (60)

To Know Politics Study "Yes Prime Minister"

Does this sound like Libya today?

The standard Foreign Office response to any crisis:
Stage One
We say that nothing is going to happen.
Stage Two
We say that sometning may be going to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Stage Three
We say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
Stage Four
We say that maybe there was something we could have done but it's too late now.

Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. The Complete Yes Prime Minister. A Victory for Democracy (177)