Mailer quote

"'Politics is property,' said Murray Kempton, delegate from New York, over the epiphanies of drink, and never was a new science comprehended better by a young delegate...A true property-holder is never ambivalent about his land, he does not mock it, or see adjacent estates as more deserving than his own - so a profession in politics without pride in his holding is a defector...But such property can be used as outright risk capital - one can support a(n)....movement....even risk the loss of one's primary holding in return for the possibility of acquiring much more." - Mailer

I love this analogy, and that is especially rings true in the case of elections. What does each voteer's opinion come down to? Whichever nominee he votes for will give him a chance to improve his own ideal holdings - his property - that which he holds to be true, correct, and the most important. As emphasized in the second sentence of the quote, the voter wants a nominee who is proud of his positions and will not waver. The third sentence of the quote is directly reflected in today's election, as with three past elections we've covered: 1920 (Wilston to Harding), 1932 (Hoover to FDR), and 1952 (Truman to Ike). In these elections, we see party changing based largely on the dissatisfaction of the public with how their ideals and "property" have been treated. One of the election platforms of each of the winning presidents was that they were not the last president - appealing to the people to take a risk and go for a complete change - for the "possiblity of acquiring much more." Indeed, today thatis basically Obama's strongest argument - that he will use the voted he recieves to enact policies which will improve the properties of the Americans that have become dissatisfied with the Bush administration. I'm not taking sides; I just think this quote relates to the election. I wish I could elaborate more...but I've taken up too much room already.