Customer Reviews

Congress: The Electoral Connection, Second Edition

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Forget everything you learned in High School civics. David Mayhew utterly demolishes the idea that legislators are engaged in some high-minded pursuit of the "public interest," partisan ideological struggle, or that policies are adopted based on facts or reason. The Ur message of this thoroughly convincing but highly readable tome is that politicians, like the rest of us, pursue their own self interest. That interest is entirely dictated by the determination to get reelected at all costs. Positions are taken, votes are cast, and gestures are made with that first and foremost in mind.

What does that mean? It means that well organized groups of voters (the much maligned but rarely understood "special interest groups") dictate policy. Our founding fathers called these groups "factions" and believed that they were the biggest threat to self government. They were right. Organized groups of politically active voters call the shots, and their agendas rarely comport with the public interest.

Mayhew simply calls it as he sees it. He draws no conclusions, but they should be self evident to the reader. To understand democratic government, one must understand politics. And to understand politics, one simply must read Mayhew.

The book is also relevant beyond the realm of theory. Mayhew casts serious doubt upon the conventional belief that campaign finance reform, term limits, or a host of other proposed reforms will control the power of these factions.

I've working in the public policy world in Washington for over a decade, and everything Mayhew argues comports well with my experience in dealing with elected officials and their staff members. The bitter truth is that neither facts, data, nor reasoned analysis has anything to do with public policy in America.

Even if you disagree with Mayhew, you can't have an informed opinion about politics without grappling with the arguments in this book.

"Congress: The Electoral Connection" is considered by political scientists to be one of the most important books published within their discipline in the past 30 years. They're right; it is an absolute classic and a must read!

The goals of individual congressmen have a significant impact on the quality and power of Congress as an institution. The exact role of Congress is a much debated issue but it can be safely stated that at a minimum, Congress is to make quality public policy, which in aggregate, benefits the nation as a whole. The extent to which this is achieved is in large part dependent on the willingness and ability of Congress as a collection of individual goals and desires to strive toward this end.

David Mayhew assessed that the main goal of congressmen was to gain re-election. In this never ending quest for popular support, the legislative and oversight duties of congressmen takes a back seat to advertising, credit claiming and position taking. In other words, Congress' vast resources are expended in allocating benefits to small constituencies and not toward responsible, cohesive and nationally oriented public policy. Staff and office material are used for keeping in touch with constituents and casework. Committees are platforms for position taking and pork barrel politics. And parties and party leaders focus on doling out favors, setting agendas and protecting the habits and routine of the organization. This results in delay, narrow policies directed at small segments of the population, a tendency to favor the legislative preferences of organized constituencies, especially those with a proven power to deliver money, manpower and votes, and finally symbolism. The end product is poor public policy with little cohesion and direction.

Mayhew's assessment of what drives individual members of Congress could be debated. But his conclusion that the policy making is fragmented and disjointed is difficult to argue with.

Mayhew's book is probably the one that I remember best from graduate school. There's a reason for this: as a political professional I work each day in the context and with the forces that he so concisely describes.

I recommend this book highly both to students American politics and to my colleagues in Washington and in state capitals who are anxious to gain insights that will be useful to them in their efforts to influence and muck up the legislative process.

Although the review of the book by the gentleman below certainly delves into some of the major issues that Mayhew offers in this classic poltical science text, he ignores one of the major points of the book: Mayhew's point that legislators are constantly seeking reelection, that it drives them, is mitigated by his belief that the *reason* they are seeking reelection is so that they can pursue particular goals -- policy or otherwise. Reelection does drive them, but is only a MEANS, not an end. Impact on national, state or local policy -- or other political goals -- is the reason they continue to work diligently to be reelected. After all, they can't enact legislation if they aren't members of the body in the first place.

I had to read this book for my political science class and it was very informative on what drives politicians to seek and retain office. However, the language was hard to understand and I was highly bored reading this.

David Mayhew's Congress: The Electoral Connection examines the activities of the individuals and the specifics of the institutions of the US House of Representatives, in an effort to determine the primary goals of House members elected to serve America and their constituents in the House. The thinking is that understanding House members' motivations better will allow observers to predict their actions.

He's well qualified to address this topic, having taught at Yale on political and legislative institutions since 1968.

Mayhew concludes that the main motivation behind what United States Congressmen say and do is not the best interests of the folks back home or even the well-being of their country - they are mainly concerned with their own reelection. In fact, he goes further, dismissing the idea that reelection is one of many motivations of Congressmen, saying that they are "...indeed, in their role [in Washington] as abstractions, interested in nothing else." He goes on in this book to display evidence, in the name of activities of Congresspeople and the policies and institutions of the House of Representatives, that supports his thesis well.

Don't be dismissed by the book's brevity and breezy tone. It's packed with insight and supportive data. And, don't think that this 1974 book is irrelevant to today's Congress. The themes and pressures ring true to today's world.

The conclusions are disheartening to those of us hoping for more from our elected leaders, but Mayhew's tone isn't cynical, just factual. Congress: The Electoral Connection is a foundation on which a library of research has been conducted on US political institutions. Political science students and those interested in how the direction of our country is set should read it.

Despite the fact that Mayhew's "Congress: The Electoral Connection" was published in 1986, the congressional goals discussed by Mayhew are still very relevant. Mayhew discusses three possible Congressional goals: 1)reelection, 2)gaining influence, and 3)producing good public policy. He also discusses the factors that effect the actions of Congressmen, such as: political parties, constituencies, committees, political action commitees, house and senate leadership, etc...

Mayhew comes to the earth-shaking conclusion that politicians want to be re-elected. Do you really need to read a book to tell you that -- give me a break! This was known by my grandfather who never attended school beyond the third-grade. Save your time and save your money.