Politics & Power Quote by Hugh Sidey

Sidey is diagnosing a media addiction: politics as sport, governance as homework. The line “clash and thunder of electoral combat” isn’t just colorful; it’s an indictment of what the press rewards itself for covering. Combat has villains, momentum, nightly plot twists. Budget analysis has spreadsheets, tradeoffs, and the kind of ambiguity that doesn’t fit a chyron. By framing reporters as “legions,” Sidey suggests a self-reinforcing institution, not a few bad actors: an army trained to chase spectacle.

The subtext is harsher than the polite phrasing. Journalists don’t merely prefer campaigns; they need them. Electoral combat supplies the drama that sustains attention, prestige, and access. “Dry duty” reads like a confession of newsroom incentives: the work that actually governs people’s lives is treated as a chore, while the horse race becomes the main event. Sidey’s causal claim - “As a consequence” - flips the usual blame. The perpetual campaign isn’t only the fault of ambitious politicians; it’s co-produced by coverage that keeps the arena lit year-round.

Context matters: Sidey wrote in an era when television’s rhythms and the modern consultant class were accelerating politics into constant messaging. His warning anticipates today’s click-driven ecosystem, where fundraising numbers, poll movement, and viral conflict crowd out policy scrutiny. The quote works because it makes a structural critique sound like a cultural one: the press didn’t just start reporting a never-ending campaign; it helped invent it.