Politics & Power Quote by Rich Lowry

Lowry’s line is a small, sharp pin aimed at the balloon of democratic romance. By saying “almost all,” he doesn’t go full nihilist; he leaves a sliver of exception that keeps him sounding reasonable, even empirical. But the real work is done by “falsity and playacting,” a pairing that frames campaigns as performance art with a moral defect baked in. “Falsity” alleges deception; “playacting” makes that deception seem routine, even professional, like candidates slipping into costumes tailored by consultants and focus groups.

The intent is less to reveal a scandal than to normalize one: if campaigns are structurally theatrical, then the audience should stop acting shocked when messages are curated, personas are sanded down, and “authenticity” is produced on demand. It’s a preemptive inoculation against disappointment, and also a license for hardball politics. If everyone is performing, the candidate who performs best can claim a kind of pragmatic innocence: don’t blame the actor, blame the stage.

As an editor and longtime conservative commentator, Lowry is speaking from the press box, where campaigns look like scripts, not lived experience. The subtext reads as a critique of media-era incentives: sound bites over substance, symbolic gestures over governing competence, narratives built for voters who have time for vibes but not white papers. It also carries a faint admonition to the voter: you are not just watching the play; you’re buying tickets and demanding the plot twists.