Impeachment Escalates the Partisan War

by Steven Hill and Rob Richie,
Center for Voting and Democracy

We're not talking about the bombing of Iraq. Rather, the Republicans' persistent drive to impeach Bill Clinton has one certain consequence: that Democrats will respond in kind when they have the opportunity. In this blind trajectory to mutually assured destruction, the final casualties promise to be more than individual politicians like Pres. Clinton, Newt Gingrich or Bob Livingston. Rather, our national faith and confidence in our political institutions -- indeed in representative democracy itself -- are at risk.

American politics has always had its share of partisan rancor, but the recent escalation is without parallel. Politics today is driven by opinion polls, slick TV ads and soundbites crafted by high-priced consultants who have mastered the art of mudslinging and dirty campaigning. These consultants have figured something out: winning doesn't require issues anymore. If the goal in a "winner take all" electoral system is to win more votes than your opponent, you can do that as easily by driving voters away from your opponent as by attracting voters to yourself.

In fact, it's easier. All you have to do is find a good wedge issue or two, or even better some inflated smear or sex scandal, and package that through simplistic portrayals of complex issues. Because under our "winner take all" voting system, the last candidate standing wins. Candidates and their consultants use attack ads for one reason: they usually are highly effective in a close race.

Negative campaigning is nothing new, but the 1990s have set a new standard. The media technology -- the weapons of this war -- has changed dramatically. The Internet, World Wide Web and 24-hour television have turned the lives of politicians into a kind of "Truman Show" fish bowl. Not only are campaigns relentlessly negative, but attacks and wedge issue politics continue throughout the governing process. This impeachment is just the latest and most dramatic illustration that politics has degenerated into a permanent negative campaign.

It is easy to vilify Republicans or Democrats without recognizing the real culprit: our "winner take all" electoral system, which fosters such negative politics. It's a zero-sum game; if I win, you lose. Political operatives know that it pays to run against a demon, and Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich have filled this role nicely.

Monicagate is just the latest version of Whitewater, GOPAC, questionable book deals, Paula Jones, Travelgate, government shutdowns, the FBI files, "mediscare" and other attempts by both parties to toss political grenades to gain partisan advantage. Added to this "take no prisoners" mentality is the national media's OJ Simpson-type fixation with any collision of sex and power. Taken together, you have the essential ingredients that have produced this latest travesty that is hijacking the nation's attention and making our political institutions the laughingstock of the world.

Welcome to the wonderful world of "winner take all" politics. What's a voter to do?

Americans are understandably disgusted by the shenanigans in Washington D.C., and generally by the quality of campaigns that are driven by continuous partisan calculations rather than by policy demands and the public interest. And they registered that disgust by staying home in droves in the November elections. The 37 percent participation rate among eligible voters is far below the international norm.

But staying home or blaming the problem on "bad politicians" instead of the "winner take all" electoral system will not address the root problems that create strong incentives to be negative. Nor will it change the technology that has made attacks all the more ruthlessly effective. To change how this game is played, we must change the rules of the game.

The most promising rule change is proportional representation. Proportional representation describes a range of voting systems in which groupings of voters -- as defined by how they vote -- win legislative seats in proportion to their share of the vote. One typical by-product of proportional representation is multi-party democracy, which shakes up the zero-sum incentives for mud-slinging campaigns, negative governance and adversarial politics.

With credible political parties across the ideological spectrum, voters have more viable choices and campaigners need to distinguish themselves from multiple competitors by running positive, policy-driven campaigns rather than spending gobs of money on negative attacks. The zero-sum calculation is largely eliminated. Not surprisingly, proportional and semi-proportional systems are now used by most established democracies in the world, and a growing number of American corporations and localities.

The latest below-the-belt politics in Washington D.C. are like a Cold War escalation, with no end in sight. Even the politicians who recognize what is happening seem powerless to stop it; they will not unilaterally disarm. We must find ways to disarm our leaders, and one of the most potent solutions must involve reforming our "winner take all" elections.