From: "Karl Carlile" <joseph-AT-indigo.ie>
Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 18:23:44 +0000
Subject: Re: The floating vote..............


Comrades: There has been very recently a general election in the UK
in which the British Labour Party won an enormous majority in the
House of Commons and now forms the current government there. In the
Irish R epublic an election will more than likely take place
sometime in June of this year. Some reflection on the character of
these elections is opportune:

The general elections are a fight for the floating vote. The
election is generally fought and won over a minority of the
electorate: the floating electorate. This element within the
electorate tends to be fickle. It tends to vote this way or that for
the most fickle of reasons such as the facial features of candidates
or some such superficial characteristic. It is this element within
the elector ate to which the party political image industry has most
impact. The image and showbiz characteristic of modern elections is,
in a sense, a function of the need to win over this element within
the el ectorate.

Since it is  among the least political element of the voting
electorate the floating electorate makes or breaks governments on
the basis of secondary and superficial matters. This tends to give
elect ion campaigns a more superficial character.

The elections are won or loss in the marginal constituencies. And
these marginals are won or loss on the basis of the how the floating
vote turns. In short a small minority of the electorate, in a se nse,
dictate the kind of government and even society we are to have. It
is to this minority that the official politicians direct most of
their attention. This minority increasingly determines the cha racter
of politics during the campaign and the character of media coverage
during it.

The floating vote appears to be increasing and is becoming a bigger
element in elections for a number of reasons. The shift of the main
parties to what is questionably called the centre is a factor i n
this. If there exists little difference between the principal
political actors on the electoral stage then clearly their success
at the polls will tend to be a product of secondary superficial fact
ors such as image, style and personality. Since the differences
between the contestants are marginal the contest tends to be
grounded increasingly on marketing, on creating the illusion of real
diffe rence. As a result of this the election is fought and won on
the basis of superficial issues. This means that election campaigns
are increasingly trivialised so that debate turns around superficial
a nd derivative matters while the fundamental issues tend to be
increasingly submerged under a mountain of trivia such as Tony
Blair's football skills in relation to Kevin Keegan (the logic being
that if you are good a football you are politically good). Instead
of the election contributing to the increased politicisation of the
populace the opposite dynamic takes place. Consequently politics
tend s to turn around superficial issues. People increasingly begin
to think that superficial issues is the meaning of politics. As the
fundamental issues retreat into the background superficial issues ar
e, in a sense, transformed into their opposite, fundamental issues.
On the other hand fundamental issues are turned into their opposite,
superficial issues. This is why it almost considered Neanderth al and
even kitsch to raise issues such as the need to eliminate market
relations. Politics then turns into anti-politics. Politics looses
becomes meaningless: the postmodernist's dream (buckets of w ee
signifiers emancipated from signification!). What is called politics
is no longer politics. Consequently the politicians  elected into
government are less and less politicians but theatrical figur es from
puppitry. As this trend develops the real politics increasingly
takes place behind the backs of the people. The invisible figures in
upper echelons of the state and certain other capitalist i
nstitutions makes the real politics. 

Consequently the difference between the political parties
continuously diminishes since they are constrained by the politics
as prescribed by the invisible cliques such as the invisible
administrator s of the state and parastatal bodies such as the
European Commission which are an expression of the objective
necessities of world capitalism. The official politicians are the
"frontmen" there to dis tract our attention while the significant
activity takes place behind the world stage curtain.

In short the election campaigns rather than contributing towards
increased politicisation forms part of a depoliticisation process: a
retreat form the Enlightenment tradition.

The above are but tentative observations on general elections in
Ireland, Gt. Britain and possibly elsewhere.


                                                        Karl

                                      




                          Yours etc.,
                                     Karl   


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