David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

elections

When it comes to ideas, should we prefer complexity or simplicity?

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Take a look at this photo. Is it a picture of complexity or simplicity? Or is it something entirely different — an ordered complexity that creates simple beauty?

It’s become a truism today that complexity is bad and that we should strive for simplicity. I agree. Kinda. Sorta. I’m here to offer a qualified and narrow argument in favor of complexity. Of course, the people who hate complexity don’t read things such as this anyway, so I figure I know who’s still reading.

In almost every discussion, the complicated and nuanced position is at a disadvantage. The simplistic and emotional appeal is almost always going to win most people over. I know because I tried both in politics. The only thing that works is dumbing things down, because very, very few people are willing to take the time to understand a complex idea well enough that it seems simple to them.

In the first election I ever managed — when I still didn’t have a clue what I was doing — we consciously decided that we were going to talk about issues and not personalities and trivialities. We ran a full-page newspaper ad with more words on it than you’ve ever seen from a campaign in your life. We issued white papers recommending policies based on ideas from think tanks. We talked about what the issues really were — and we got something like 3 percent of the vote. A couple of years later, we took the same candidate and ran again (for a different office, but in the same city). This time, we didn’t mention ideas. We didn’t mention policies. We didn’t mention philosophy. We just talked about what a great guy the candidate was. We won.

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I have no ‘duty’ to vote, even if I agree with you about freedom

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As most Americans gear up to pay attention to another presidential campaign season, I’m once again hearing an argument that’s been around for a long time. Does every U.S. citizen have a duty to vote?

It’s long been a staple of “good government types” that everyone has a responsibility to be an informed citizen and then to vote on election day. Newspaper editorialists who’ve run out of actual things to editorialize about are fond of writing a piece (right before election day) about the duty to vote. I seem to recall that I’ve written such editorials a time or two in the distant past when I was an editor, although I did once write a controversial column asking ignorant people not to vote. But that’s another story entirely.

The argument I’m hearing right now, though, is from freedom-loving people who argue that libertarians and others who desire freedom have a duty to go to the polls and vote for the candidate who they think is most likely to bring about liberty. Well-meaning liberty-lovers frequently insist that the rest of us have such a duty.

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Why keep playing a game that’s impossible for you to win?

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As I watch angry people scream about the political change they want, I’m frustrated that they can’t see they’re playing a game they can’t win. If you’re playing a game where the rules make it impossible for people with minority views to win, why keep playing the game?

You probably know who the Harlem Globetrotters are, but do you know who the Washington Generals are? The Generals are the patsy team that the Globetrotters typically play in their entertaining exhibition games. The players are paid simply to provide inept opposition. They’re not supposed to have a chance of winning a game.

In exhibition comedy basketball, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you hold a minority view about the world, you’re the one playing the patsy when you play majoritarian political games — regardless of which minority political position you hold.

If you’re being paid as a basketball player to be intentionally beaten and humiliated, that’s fine. It’s a job. But if you’re playing the same role in the political game, you’re getting nothing out of it. You’re the patsy. It’s time to quit playing a game that can’t be won.

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