have you heard of a 19th century politician named William L Marcy doesn't ring any bells no he doesn't have a hip Broadway musical written about his life like Alexander Hamilton does so you might not have heard of him it's okay you definitely have heard of this one thing that he said in 1832 and it absolutely affects your life he was senator from New York he was a lawyer he was governor of New York eventually he became Secretary of War and Secretary of State he was kind of a big deal in fact there he is on the $1,000 bill did y'all know we have a $1,000 bill no me either tell you the truth during debate on the Senate floor in 1832 over President Andrew Jackson's unpopular and controversial secret recess appointment of Martin Van Buren as Minister to Great Britain Marcy said to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy to the victor belongs the spoils of the enemy in this case Andrew Jackson was the victor the spoils of office was the minister to Great Britain post and Henry Clay then senator and former Secretary of State was the enemy Martin Van Buren incidentally is known to history as the little magician he's widely credited as having started America's party system as we now know it Marcy was loyal to Martin Van Buren he was a part of his Albin II region see he was also loyal to Andrew Jackson the Democratic Party my argument is that to the victor belongs the spoils of the enemy defines American politics today and that it's a problem I'm going to ask you to join with me in looking critically about what Marcy's aphorism does to us in our politics critical theorists like Lois Alta say write about Americans as subjects as always already subjects he says that we are positioned by ideology and the state to be fractured obedient divided against our best interests I don't think that we have to be always already subjects I'm hoping for better the reason why I think that we can do better is because we're always learning how to think about ourselves our government and our relationships to one another we learn this from an early age for example my three-year-old daughter's daycare the teachers there try to promote good behavior by calling all of the kids in the class friends they say things like friends don't push friends share friends don't poke friends play together and it works it works in the daycare and it works with my daughter in other places for example last weekend we were on our way to the park driving the car and I said to her I hope that there are some kids there at the park for you to play with and she said from the backseat no which is weird right so I said you don't want to play with kids in the park and she said no play with kids play with friends okay you can laugh it's funny I laugh sure enough when we got to the park she saw some kids playing yelled out friends and took off running they were always already friends for her she didn't know those kids friends don't push friends share friends don't poke friends play so let's go back to Marcy's aphorism what does it do to us and our politics to think of those who are entrusted with great political power as victors as if they have won a football game or a war on the one hand it trivializes politics because politics is not sports on the other hand it trivializes war politics is not war and in both counts it treats us as either fans cheering and booing for the home team fanatics or it treats us as loyal and obedient soldiers following the party line neither of which is very good for citizenship what does it do to us to our politics to think of the obligations of office as spoils the dictionary defines spoils as ill-gotten gains which makes me think of plunder plundering treasure politicians are pirates raiding the ship of state I'm not sure if it's really that bad but it's pretty bad and in any case it's corrupt thinking of the obligations of office as spoils is a sure sign of corruption in government what does it do to us what does it do to our politics when we think of those who have differing political policy preferences from us as enemies enemies are evil enemies cannot be trusted enemies are irrational because if they were irrational they would think like we do since they don't they are clearly others we don't negotiate with evil irrational untrustworthy others I wouldn't be prudent and so we don't when we think of people who have different policy preferences from us as evil we treat them as enemies first an American second ultimately I think that Marcy's aphorism treats us as partisans and not citizens so what's wrong with that partisans don't trust partisans are corrupt partisans are fanatics partisans don't solve problems cui bono do you know that Latin term it's an old Roman legal term it means who profits right if you want to solve the crime figure out who stands to gain the most so in this case cui bono who profits political parties profit who loses the rest of us I'm not asking for us to be as innocent as three-year-olds treat each other as always already friends but wouldn't the world be a better place if we did instead I'm asking for us to treat each other as always already citizens instead of always already partisans but that means we have to actually be citizens so what does that mean Aristotle thought that a citizen is an officer of the government not just a mere member of a political community so you might be wondering what is your office you might also be wondering where is your office perhaps someone forgot to give you the key the founding fathers thought that the office of government is to be a watchdog over the government they thought that we ought to investigate facts that we must search into causes and that we should judge the actions of government based on the standards of our own liberty and our happiness as Marcy and his little band of partisans took over American politics between 1824 and 1828 inventing the party system they took away a little bit of our watchdog function as life got more complicated in the 20th century we gave up even more of our watchdog power to the mass media who have promised to hold the government and political parties in check to guard our liberty and our happiness and do they do the mass media politicians political parties do they guard our liberty and our happiness for us I think they might like to I really do particularly the journalists who I think go in their profession with great goals but unfortunately they don't as it stands now political parties care about the interests of political parties they claim the spoils of office and media are a business and increasingly more partisan themselves because it's good for business for example 66% of Facebook users get their news primarily from their Facebook newsfeed we all know that the Facebook algorithm skews what we see in order to keep us on the site longer we spend an average of 50 minutes a day on Facebook today the longer we stay on Facebook the more advertising they can sell so what does it do to our politics what does it do to our news for the algorithm to skew our news I'm obsessed with this great app from The Wall Street Journal they have created a way for us to see how the algorithm shows you the news if the algorithm thinks that you're liberal or a conservative notice this example from this weekend the first two stories use the words humiliate very polarizing you talk about enemies in terms of humiliating them not fellow citizens notice the second example the CIA director said something liberal spin it one way to support their cause conservatives spin it another to support theirs notice the next example Isis is either on the run in Fallujah or our government is doing absolutely nothing to stop them and finally I guarantee you that the USA Today did not literally smack Donald Trump upside the head all of these are examples are the news presented to us in our most partisan most polarizing form this is news that treats us as partisans first and citizens second so what's wrong with that we don't solve political problems because we're too partisan why would you negotiate and find common ground with enemies you wouldn't this nation is further apart politically than we have ever been before the average Democrat average Democrat is more liberal than 93% of Republicans the average Republican is more conservative than 94% of Democrats there is no common ground we can't solve political problems in this country because we can't figure out what unites us where we meet in the middle what's worse 45% of Republicans think that democratic policies are a threat to the nation 41% of Democrats think the same thing about Republican policies a threat to the nation isn't that a little silly I mean a little hyped up and overblown who threatens the nation enemies enemies threaten the nation cui bono who profits so hopefully I have encouraged you to think of yourself as a citizen and on a partisan you might be asking how can I do that what can I do I have some tips the first one is to fact-check do that thing that the founding fathers thought we ought to do be a watchdog over the government investigate facts look into causes judge the actions of government the media politicians based on the standards of your liberty and your happiness second read fact check new sources despite what I just showed you about the partisanship in the press there are objective reliable fact check news sources in particular i recommend factcheck.org PolitiFact or Snopes read multiple news sources know one news source can give you the information that you need to actually judge accurately talk to people who are not like you and this is hard really hard when people say thing that things that you don't like in your facebook newsfeed don't hide them from your feet but don't yell at them either right instead talk to them ask them why they think what they think ask them for evidence talk listen think treat one another as citizens first and partisan second and finally attend meetings or clubs or classes go out into your community and talk to people who are not like you Robert Putnam writes about the difference between bridging and bonding social capital in his book Bowling Alone bonding social capital is between you and people like you people on your Facebook feed in your phone people you have a relationship with bridging social capital is between you and people who are not in your social circle people not already in your phone on your Facebook it turns out that it's the bridging social capital that's most important the people that we meet by going to a book club or going to a block party by taking a class attending a meeting the more people we have bridging social capital with the more Trust we have for society the less polarization there is Putnam argues that this generation has less bridging social capital than previous generations and that it's a problem vote but don't just vote for a party vote for a person and vote for a person who you think is going to best represent your views who will best protect your liberty and happiness and don't just vote for the incumbent do you know that the word incumbent means to lay down to lay down in office why would we want anyone to lay down in office we don't and yet we vote the incumbent into power 90% of the time perhaps if we start to think of ourselves as citizens instead of partisans then politicians will also learn that to the victor belongs the spoils of the enemy isn't the right way to think about politics perhaps they can learn that to those entrusted with great responsibility belongs the obligation to work for the common good it isn't quite as poetic or pithy but it also isn't as partisan you might be interested to know that Marcy's aphorism did not persuade Henry Clay or the Senate to approve Van Buren's recess appointment Van Buren was fine though he became vice president later that year and president four years later Marcy went on to the governorship in New York he became Secretary of War and Secretary of State and in 1878 as a thank you for his work to start the spoils system in American politics his face was put on the $1,000 bill he stayed there until 1907 when he was replaced by another of America's greatest partisans Alexander Hamilton