This year’s midterm election campaigns have been a spectacle to remember. Not only will they go down as the most expensive in history, but they have been more celebrity-focused than any midterms of the past. Oprah Winfrey went door-to-door in Georgia last week to campaign for Democrat Stacey Abrams, and Will Ferrell, Michael Jordan, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson have also stepped out on the campaign trail this month. Celebrities from Barbra Streisand to Seth McFarlane have donated big money to candidates and committees.
Our politics has taken an unsettling turn toward celebrity in recent years, and it doesn’t look as though this trend is likely to change. Economists have long pointed out that voters tend to be “rationally ignorant” about legislation and candidates.
To apply this idea in the political realm, this means that voters will learn about issues or candidates in as much as the added benefit to them is greater than the cost of time taken in investigating it. Rarely is this the case, which explains why few readers will be able to give the names of their state representative, senator, or congressman. Even fewer will know what committees their legislators sit on, how those lawmakers voted on bills, or what the details of the bills are.
As a result, elections are determined by voters who are ignorant, by and large. Not ignorant because they are incapable of understanding, but because the cost to them of learning these things seems greater than the benefit. That is why name identification is a large advantage in any election, and why it is entirely possible that the 2020 presidential election will be the Celebrity Presidential Apprentice Show.
Much as media figures may complain about Trump, his presidency has ultimately worked in their favor. The first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Trump, for example, had the largest television audience for any presidential debate, with 84 million viewers. The anonymous op-ed by a senior Trump staffer brought in more than 10 million pageviews to the New York Times site in the first week alone.
It’s certainly a disturbing trend — but it is not cause for despair. The Founding Fathers were well aware of the perils of demagoguery, of leaders who seek to make the world in their image and who use media coverage to garner popularity and political power. That is why they created a Constitution that limits the powers of government by separating those powers between different levels and branches. Whoever wins the presidency in 2020 will not be able to legislate, as the power to legislate lies with the Congress under Article I of the Constitution.
No matter who wins in 2020 (Trump, Joe Biden, or Oprah Winfrey for that matter), there is a limit on his or her power if we abide by the Constitution.
This is, of course, a big “if.” Constitutional literacy is incredibly low. A study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that 60 percent of college graduates didn’t know what steps were necessary for ratifying an amendment to Constitution, nearly half didn’t know congressional term lengths, and almost 10 percent believed that Judith Sheindlin (aka “Judge Judy”) sat on the Supreme Court.
Celebrity in and of itself does not have the power to corrupt our democracy. Only one thing can truly do that: us.
Our government is just that, our government, to keep and maintain or decay and corrupt at our will (or lack thereof). The Fathers and Framers crafted a sound, strong system that has the power to protect us from demagoguery, tyranny, and yes, even celebrity grandstanding. But it is up to us to continually enforce that system, to renew our commitment to it each and every day.
We’ve got less than a year before candidates start to make announcements for the 2020 presidency. I have no doubt that dozens of celebrities will make a show of considering a run before then — and it wouldn’t surprise me if one actually did run. The best use we can make of our time between now and then, however, is not to read through gossipy, clickbait-y articles designed to gin up speculation and rake in cash. We can prepare ourselves for a celebrity presidency (or another four years of a Trump presidency) by reacquainting ourselves with the Constitution. The document is readily available online, and there are any number of online courses designed to help make sense of it. (My personal favorite is the Hillsdale College course). Be prepared: the Constitution is a long-form read, but its principles have and will continue to guide us and our democracy for the long term.
Gary Wolfram is the William E. Simon Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Hillsdale College.
