Just to express agreement with Chris Shugart that most politicians are moved only by actions that affect, involve, or influence a voting constituency. However, there are times when they can recognize a real crisis, and act accordingly. At least, the most intelligent of them do, and from time to time an intelligent person appears in politics. Franklin Roosevelt starting acting on the Great Depression the moment he entered office, not when re-election was a near prospect. Bill Clinton also started acting as soon as he was in power -- health care, for example. Unfortunately, his proposed measures were so carefully calculated for their impact on every conceivable voting constituency that they crumbled out of their complexity. William Mandel
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