"Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues"
About this Quote
Democracy, in George Will's telling, is less a town hall than a hiring committee. "Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues" strips away the civics-class romance that elections are giant referendums on policy. Will's intent is bracingly procedural: the real act of popular sovereignty is delegation. You are not legislating; you are selecting the people, networks, and institutions that will legislate on your behalf.
The line works because it weaponizes a quiet truth most campaigns prefer to obscure. Candidates perform certainty on hot-button topics, but governing is an ongoing series of tradeoffs, compromises, committee markups, court constraints, bureaucratic implementation, and crisis-driven improvisation. By reframing elections as a choice of decision-makers rather than decisions, Will nudges voters to judge temperament, competence, coalition-building, and respect for process - the unglamorous traits that actually determine outcomes once the slogans fade.
The subtext is mildly scolding, and characteristically conservative in its skepticism of mass plebiscites and policy-by-passion. It's also a critique of the consumer model of politics, where voters demand issue-by-issue purchases and then feel betrayed when reality arrives with fine print. In context, Will is pointing at the machinery of representative government: party leadership, legislative agendas, judicial appointments, agency heads. The stakes are not just what leaders promise, but what they empower - and who gets to define "the issues" in the first place.
The line works because it weaponizes a quiet truth most campaigns prefer to obscure. Candidates perform certainty on hot-button topics, but governing is an ongoing series of tradeoffs, compromises, committee markups, court constraints, bureaucratic implementation, and crisis-driven improvisation. By reframing elections as a choice of decision-makers rather than decisions, Will nudges voters to judge temperament, competence, coalition-building, and respect for process - the unglamorous traits that actually determine outcomes once the slogans fade.
The subtext is mildly scolding, and characteristically conservative in its skepticism of mass plebiscites and policy-by-passion. It's also a critique of the consumer model of politics, where voters demand issue-by-issue purchases and then feel betrayed when reality arrives with fine print. In context, Will is pointing at the machinery of representative government: party leadership, legislative agendas, judicial appointments, agency heads. The stakes are not just what leaders promise, but what they empower - and who gets to define "the issues" in the first place.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
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