Show Me The Boodle

Boodlism.

Boodle is what Tammany Hall called the lubricant of the political machine: money, easy money, slick money. It is our modern day version of boodle that is now dominating the landscape, for it is not merely money, but a way of life. And it is not just money, but money gotten cleverly, beating the system. It makes the recipient one of The Boys. It makes him a comrade of Da Boss.

Today the boodle is not graft flowing to the political machine, and then flowing out again. Today the boodle is the money supplied by government, both in terms of its own perks and welfare and programs, and in doing what it can to keep the economy primed. It is boodle because the voters want the benefits of socialism without the costs, and the benefits of capitalism without the costs, and government is responsible for seeing that that happens. The heck with the budget, the heck with the long-term effects, or even the short term ones: government's job is to keep the good times rolling, without pain or even bother for the voters, or the government will be tossed out.

This movement has conservatives flummoxed. Liberals might have taken heart, but they seemed nearly as cautious and leery. As well they might. Clinton/Blair liberalism seems very little like real liberalism, as many commentators have noted, but it has not been noticed that what it is is -- Boodlism.

My home town of Chicago is an early precursor of politics today in the Western world. As the late Mike Royko showed so clearly in his biography of Mayor Richard J. Daley, the city's corrupt political machine was approved by most Chicagoans, in the belief that they benefited from it. That is, while the editorial writers were typing away on their screeds against the Daley Machine, the publishers were having lunch downtown with Da Mare. While the society ladies were joining with other goo-goos for lunch at the Cleaner Government Association, their husbands were passing envelopes to aldermen. The average citizen wanted his garbage picked up, and maybe a job for Cousin Stan when he was out of work.

Boodle is not merely the money in the envelope handed to the alderman. It is the whole mindset: that money is the object of government; that the system can be manipulated, yet still yield a profit for the voters; that anything besides money is ridiculous. As filched watermelon is said to be sweeter, boodle is more fun than honestly earned money.

So it is boodlism that has triumphed in the U.S. Clinton thought in 1992 he had won because the voters wanted the government to do more. But here we must distinguish Boodlism from liberalism. Modern liberalism believes that the government must take an active role in society to promote the common good.

But the average citizen is leery of that, because it implies that the average citizen might have to take an active role in promoting the common good. You know, all that "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" business.

This need not mean cutting spending, a reality the Republicans don't understand. In the Boodle economy, if the government is passing out goodies, it must pass them out to everyone. This is so all those getting goodies can feel a warm glow about how magnanimous we all are. More important, if anyone is cut out of the deal, that means my own goodies are potentially threatened.

This also applies to values. The government no longer can pick one value above another. That too might call into question one's own lifestyle. It might get in the way of a deal. So like a field day at a self-esteem obsessed school, the government passes out blue ribbons to everyone. One might remember when liberals fought Communism and labor union corruption. But such obsessions can disrupt the deals. Ditto for conservatives putting morality ahead of profits, as they once occasionally did.

All of this makes Clinton's liberalism a virtual liberalism. It looks like liberalism, but it does not envision a common good, only a common feeding trough. It does not call on the government to make the country better, but only enrich everyone. That is why, like Boss Daley, he can deal with the elite.

Boodle is also is the true explanation of Watergate. The economy was fine in 1972, so the voters elected Nixon. When the economy went south after the election, Nixon was finished. With the economy soured, and the boodle threatened, the populace turned on Nixon. If it hadn't been Watergate, it would have been because he had an overdue book at the Library of Congress or used the wrong salad fork at a state dinner. If the economy has stayed strong, Nixon could have burned down the Watergate and nobody would have cared.

Clinton would be making license plates in Arkansas if the economy were faltering. But as long as the economy is good, he could molest Paula Jones on the steps of the Capitol and sell the Pentagon to China. He can do anything, as long as the good times are rolling, and as long as no one touches the perks that come from living in a Boodle economy. Can that last forever? Probably not, but for now that is all anyone cares about.

So forget the foreign policy and the morality and government helping the poor and the freedoms of democracy. To predict the next presidential race, just look at the economy, and see which candidates for First Boss promise the most Boodle. That's your winner, every time, here in the Land of Boodle.