It seems to be happening in the blink of an eye. It pops up in the headlines once every few weeks. Stephen Colbert has had a running Hunger Games spoof about it on his TV show for months on end.
Multiple career politicians in the United States are leaving their jobs incomplete and abandoning electoral races faster than you can say "democracy." And the most unnerving part? It feels...normal.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry kicked it off when he announced his exit from the 2016 Republican presidential race on September 11. Scott Walker, the Governor of Wisconsin who was a party favorite and front-runner in the summer, followed suit about a week later and "encouraged other presidential candidates to consider doing the same" so voters could have a limited number of conservative hopefuls to choose from. According to The Washington Post, Walker's campaign only lasted 70 days but he spent $6.4 million between July and September and is currently asking supporters to help him pay off an estimated debt of $700,000.
Presidential candidates Jim Webb, a Senator from Virginia, and Lincoln Chafee, former Governor of Rhode Island, both exited the Democratic race shortly after the first televised party debate on October 13. Webb has since said in an opinion piece for the Washington Post that "there is work to be done" and implied that he is considering a run as an independent candidate. Chafee and Webb were certainly less well-known than Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O'Malley, so one might argue that they never had a fighting chance, but they still hired staff members and poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into promoting their campaigns. That's a lot of money and time gone, all because they didn't want to try anymore.
Don't get me wrong. To a certain extent, it is necessary for presidential candidates to exit the race because it helps clear out the playing field so voters aren't overwhelmed by the number of people they have to choose from. On the other hand, what does this reveal about the politicians themselves? By declaring their candidacy, they also unofficially declare a full commitment to their campaign. They make a promise to their constituents that they will go the distance and take great measures to prove their worth to the American public. They even pump millions of dollars into their campaigns from personal funds, superPAC contributions, and general donations.
Why would a candidate put in months or years of hard work only to throw it all away when they perform badly in a debate or drop in the polls? In a way, it discredits the significance, validity, and high esteem of the presidential office.
This "trend" is not only present in the fight for control of the Oval Office; it has permeated politics as a whole. John Boehner shocked the nation in September when he announced his intention to resign from his position as U.S. Speaker of the House at the end of October. Boehner had led the House of Representatives in this role since 2010 and was expected to do so until the 2016 elections, but it is believed that the political tension within the party caucus was too much for him to bear.
An alarmingly rapid chain of events took place in the weeks that followed Boehner's decision; Republicans immediately scrambled to find Boehner's replacement and elected Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as the new Speaker on October 29. No one in politics or the media really stopped to question why Boehner decided to leave his job before the term was complete or if it was morally acceptable...it was just allowed to happen.
The ease and regularity with which this political phenomenon is occurring is frightening. Citizens elect public officials because they view them as trustworthy, persevering, and dedicated to fulfilling their national duty. If we allow these people to drop everything and walk away without a word, what is left? How can we expect to have efficient government if our society remains silent as politicians declare defeat when the going gets tough?
Possible candidates for any public office (but especially one on the federal level such as Speaker or President) first need to establish and maintain a genuine connection with the people they serve as they rise up through the government food chain. They need to not only understand the multitude of issues that affect the United States and the rest of the world, but also have comprehensive plans of action to fix them. Politicians need to realistically evaluate their financial circumstances to ensure that they will be able to run a lengthy and successful campaign. Most importantly, they need to believe in their own abilities and actually care about a job before they decide to run for it. And as participants in a democratic political process, we need to demand more of them every step of the way.
