Don’t Look Up – APSA 2023
Not unlike a startup, promoting a political philosophy like the 90-Degree Turn requires turning over as many stones as possible. However, as stones are infinite, one must be selective.
Given that I have a degree in Political Science (and recently examined the Federal Government and the challenges it faces), I thought it logical to turn over the stone labeled American Political Science Association (APSA). When I did and realized APSA was having its annual meeting at the end of August, I grew excited.
On the event's website, 2023 APSA ANNUAL MEETING & EXHIBITION, I was amazed by the number of papers being presented. Such a repository would certainly include learned academics looking for answers to the national debt crisis and seeking government reform to prevent future debt. But my amazement quickly turned to disappointment when I couldn't find a single paper among thousands on the "U.S. national debt" or "government reform."
When I simplified my search to "debt," I received 33 hits, including "The Causes and Effects of China's Economic Statecraft." But nothing related to the U.S. debt. It would seem, for this American association, that the problem is over there, in China, and not here at home. When I simplified "government reform" to "reform," I received 266 hits, but nothing related to the U.S. government.
Don't Look Up might just be the APSA motto for 2023. Pressing issues central to preserving democracy fall outside the spectrum of burning hot topics like "The Politics of Bathroom Access, Exclusion, and Gender Identity in the States."
When bathroom access takes priority over national debt and government reform in an organization made up of the country's leading political scientists, something is off. Way off. Now, I understand how liberals become conservatives and reactionaries. Fox News would eat this up.
As science is the pursuit and application of knowledge, the APSA should change "Political Science" to "Political Studies" so as not to mislead anyone into thinking something of real benefit could be derived from having a degree in it.
I have argued that the Federal Government operates with an overhead of 99.5%. This is reflected in the APSA database, where a preoccupation with the extraneous appears to deny attention to topics that matter. Not to a select few but to a country and the democratic world as a whole. Akin to our politicians in Washington, APSA prefers to study the obtuse soft periphery of government to the hardcore issues needed to sustain it.
On the topic of "campaign financing," I got 35 hits, but none related to the corrosive effects of campaign financing. And I found only one panel that mentions lobbying: "Lobbying and Campaign Contributions in the United States." But here, the focus is on participating, not fixing.
The APSA is reminiscent of the Office of the Inspector General, where success is not measured by actual results but rather by potential results.
Like Washington, it seems the science of political science is stuck in neutral. Comfortably observing government as an astronomer might observe a distant star without hope or aspiration of changing a damn thing.
I have not given up and hope, eventually, to connect with individuals in academia with an interest in this topic. That said, from my initial assessment, it would seem this will be a steep climb that may offer no benefit other than having tried.
