Frank says there are two kinds of politics–real politics and pop politics–he says it’s like the difference between “real” music and pop music. Pop politics is aimed at some part of us all that lies well south of our brains. It’s pop politics to try to make Bush off limits to criticism because he is “O*U*R President”–while forgetting the venom Republicans spewed at Clinton.
But I digress—
Threre’s a hot political battle now in Sweden. Because I don’t read Swedish, all I can pick up on is the “pop politics”–the images and slogans from both sides. Also the money–it’s very clear that one side of this battle has spent about ten times more money than the other. I see this as a foretaste of the next presidential elections, where Bush will have almost unlimited funds from his supporters.
The Swedish battle is all about the Euro–should Sweden give up its old currency (Swedish kronors) and use the new European money now shared by most of the EEC, though not by England. The “Vote yes” group has so much more money than their opponents (mainly organized labor) that I can’t help wondering how they expect to get back all the money they’re spending.
This computer just ate a couple of paragraphs about the ding-dong battle of Yes versus No, with the Yes team’s loud professionally-orchestrated “D*I*N*G” omnipresent in billboards, busstops, and subways. The No team response is a pitiful “dong”–(insert “maximize-your-mini-package” joke here)–three poster designs and a few orange t-shirts.
Slogans on both sides are pure “pop” politics. Yes! Euro is the future–without Euros, Sweden will be a pitiful lonely outcast. No! Accepting the Euro means losing control over our economy to foreign bureaucrats who don’t care about Swedish workers, children, old people–you get the idea.
The “No” team mounted a final “surprise” effect on Thursday, putting up a bunch of their posters so that for the first time they had, maybe, as many as one-tenth as many as those urging “Yes”. The “Yes” team’s final push is a lot more impressive–about ten well-scrubbed good-looking young people the Uppsala City Square, handing out leaflets and wearing buttons that say “Ask me about the Euro”. I imagine a similar effort is going on all over Swedish this week–the vote is ongoing, but ends Sept. 14.
With no grasp of the principles involved, I await with enormous interest the final result. It’s amazing how loudly money talks in elections–and when you don’t speak the local language.
1 response so far ↓
1 Elayne Riggs // Sep 8, 2003 at 6:15 am
“The “Vote yes” group has so much more money than their opponents…” Ah, but is that money in kronors or Euros? :)