Sustainable Politics

When people think of "sustainable politics," they probably think of a certain form of environmentalism.  

But in a broader sense, sustainable actions are those actions that we can foresee continuing to work in the future.  They certainly include using resources in a sustainable way.  But I want to turn this concept on it's side to some extent.

I see a beautiful two-pronged notion of what "sustainable politics" should be.  For example, it's becoming increasingly clear that invading Iraq based on cherry-picked intelligence is not sustainable politics.  For two reasons.

When I was a little kid, I wanted to impress people.  So I would exaggerate the truth to make my life look more exciting than it was.  But over time people realized what was going on, and not only would my exaggerations not work on them anymore, but to my dismay they even stopped believing the truths.  Lesson learned: lying is not sustainable.  

When I was in college, some of my friends didn't go to class or work but just smoked weed and played video games.  But after they got kicked out of college and their parents stopped supporting them financially, they had to work.  Being lazy is not sustainable.

People used to think that propelling unlimited amounts of CO_2 into the atmosphere was a perfectly wonderful way for humans to do business.  And it is for a few hundred years.  However, if you continue it long enough, your species will die out from the unforeseeable results of drastic climate change.  It's not sustainable.

Enjoying riches beyond belief while your countrymen starve is fun for a while.  But if one day you suggest that people without bread should try cake, you may find that the next day your head gets detached.  People won't stay oppressed for long.  Nature abhors a vacuum, they say.

And finally, invading a country based on cherry-picked intelligence is a perfectly fine little game to play.  But it inevitably has a two-pronged effect.  First, it makes neighboring countries want to increase their military (think Russia and Iran) and creates more terrorists than it destroys.  Second, on the home front, when constituents realize what your party did, your party gets kicked out of office.  You want to make irresponsible decisions?  Then you don't get to be the decider anymore.

By definition, the future is coming.  Here's where we are now, and there's where we'll be then.  Obviously, somewhere between now and then we'll need to make a transition in order to get from here to there.  And transitions are always painful.  I know you want to exaggerate your greatness, but I'm afraid you won't be able to continue to drive your Hummer when the oil runs out.  I know your corporation wants free money, but I'm afraid that the people of Bolivia cannot continue to pay you for the privilege of collecting rainwater.  

And the pundits like Richard Cohen and Judith Miller, who spout bullshit without thinking it through, do not practice sustainable journalism.  Slowly, they will be relegated to obscurity, as blogs and real thinkers take over the information scene.  

It's simple.  Truth is sustainable.  The common good is sustainable.  Conservation of resources is sustainable.  Lies, free money, and waste are not sustainable.  

So how can we apply this concept to "real life" politics?  Well, for example, when democrats talk about how they will lower gas prices if elected, they must be very sure that they can do so sustainably.  If we don't transition from decreasing gas prices to increasing the availability of alternate energy resources, then we are not engaging in sustainable politics.  First because oil will continue to get more scarce leading inevitably to a reescalation of gas prices; but second because the upshot is that republicans will call us out for our failure.  

Everyone who plays sports or board games knows how it works.  Poach too hard and you'll get caught.  Want to take that free pawn?  Be careful lest it compromise your position for the rest of the game.  

I could give many more examples ("the permanent republican majority" becoming the "culture of corruption", "mission accomplished", the ridiculous idea that some democrats think it's in their best interest to give the internet away to the cable companies, etc, etc).  

But the idea is clear: if you want be reelected, you have to be responsible.  You have to assume that there is no free lunch.  And you must think ahead, because the future will only support your political career if your politics supports the future.