Writing in The New York Times today, Marc Ambinder notes that “During this election cycle, a suspiciously large number of candidates with thin résumés and barely formed political identities are beating well-financed, better-established opponents. What’s more, these upstarts are winning primary races, in no small part, by running against the notion that their opponents were endorsed by the party — by running, that is, against the parties themselves.” He points to In Florida, where Marco Rubio pushed Gov. Charlie Crist out of the Republican Party and Rick Scott, a former hospital chief executive, beat establishment pol Bill McCullum in the gubernatorial primary; over a party-preferred candidate; in Alaska, where the inexperienced, Sarah Palin-backed Joe Miller beat incumbent senator Lisa Murkowski; in Pennsylvania, where Rep. Joe Sestak beat incumbent Senator Arlen Specter. He might have mentioned, where GOP activists denied the nomination to incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett.
Ambinder argues that this is a reaction against the parties, and well it might be. But I think it is a revolt against the system. For years, people have telling pollsters that they are unhappy: small and shrinking approval ratings for Congress, and also low approval ratings for journalists. People have become disgusted with the entire system–the unresponsive candidates, the money-drenched system that is beholden to special interests, and a legislative branch that refuses to address the nation’s problems. Washington’s problem is that in offices and families and communities throughout the country, people know how to make decisions. They reason, they argue, they vote, they move ahead. People know that Washington’s paralysis, it’s bickering and finger-pointing, is not a necessary by-product of decision-making. And given everything else that’s going on, especially the economy, they are revolting.
Our politics may be as badly broken as at any time since before the Civil War.