Political Nullification

October 4, 2006

Moving to Appleton we subscribed to the local newspaper. It was novel to realize that we were actually living in a battleground state. (Come 2008 we might even get to see presidential candidates around here!) In the run-up to the midterm elections the Post-Crescent ran some introductions to the local candidates, and I noticed how many of these candidates have a local background. It is nothing but good for a candidate to be able to claim to be a native son or daughter of Appleton or one of these other cities. Which makes sense: people want their elected representative to really represent them.

I sometimes meditate on the reasons for the electoral powerlessness of academics. There are many reasons, which include the kind of straw-man argumentation of conservative talk-show hosts.. but beyond that there is something in the academic system that leads to the virtual nullification of political influence. The system that produces Ph.D. graduates and then university professors is stacked against local continuity. I moved to Atlanta to go to Emory University.. and then spent 6 years in which I think I lived in 6 different places.. including one year out of the country. None of the graduate school experience makes for local connection. Then the job process means another re-location. So here we are with another important election coming up.. and without the roots to really have a voice.

Of course there are upsides to this system.. I love our current place. But I think we should be frank and admit that what the system produces is a rank of smart and drifting young professionals. That means a loss of political voice. This changes some as professors find their "home" and settle into a place.. but most professors could still not ever run under some kind of native son or daughter banner.. they will always be from the outside.

It is possible that this afflicts professionals of all kinds. Successful people tend not to stay in the same place in which they grew up.. and therefore trade local continuity for professional prestige. But I suspect this is less extreme in professions such as law or business.. or even medicine. For academics it is the rule.

There must be some way to better tap the political sensibilities of academics. If academics all lived and voted together in South Florida, we would receive a daily stream of political candidates swearing fealty to our causes. Given our permanently scattered status, we are ignored and lambasted on talk-shows. There must be a strategy for dealing with this.