THE VULNERABLE AMERICAN POLITICIAN

Although most incumbent members of Congress succeed in being re-electe d, American politicians are in fact more subject to the vicissitudes o f electoral politics than are the politicians of any other major democ racy. They face re-election more often. They face the possibility of h aving to contest primaries. They have to raise most of their own money . They are not given a large measure of protective cover by strong pol itical parties. The consequences for American government and politics are profound. They include such familiar and well-documented phenomena as particularism, 'pork' and the power of special interests; but they also include the high incidence in America of purely symbolic politic s, the drastic foreshortening of American politicians' time horizons a nd the difficulty that the American system often has in taking tough d ecisions.