Politics Is Local By Linda Stowe
“All politics is local.” Anyone who follows politics with attention has heard this comment. I have heard it many times over the years, but I never really gave it much thought. Today I decided to learn more about it.
The comment is attributed to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill. O’Neill was a popular and well-known politician who spent his whole career in politics. He became active as a teenager, volunteering for presidential candidate Al Smith who lost to Herbert Hoover in 1928. O’Neill ran for his first office shortly after college in a race for Cambridge City Council (Massachusetts). That was the only election O’Neill ever lost and that was when he made his famous comment, “All politics is local.” O’Neill said that was the lesson he took away from this loss.
O’Neill was saying that regardless of how major the election, whether it be for president of the United States or mayor of a small town, voters will cast their vote based on how they think things are going in their own life. Politicians who know how to win understand this and make their message meaningful to the person on the street. Political parties construct platforms and advocate policies, but the person in the voting booth is casting a vote for the issues most important to them.
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Polly here. I did not know Old Tip was responsible for that quote. But he was right. People want what is good for their own well-being, first and foremost. Humans are wired that way. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, the base level encompasses our “physiological needs”: breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep. The next base level is “security and safety”: health, employment, property, family, social ability. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
I believe people vote primarily on these two things (physiological needs / security needs). They only see “issues” on how they will affect their own lives. Take border control. People fear “immigrants” will threaten their own ability for gaining work, money, food, safety in their own lives.
The need for these basic human conditions can be applied to any issue on the ballot.
As Tip said, and Linda pointed out: “All politics is local.”
And as the other saying goes, “Charity begins at home.”
Politics Is Local By Linda Stowe
