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1 1 (January 2019)

handle is hein.amenin/aeiaaab0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Key Points Political patronage-the distribution of jobs, contracts, and emoluments-is often seen as a form of political corruption. However, it was originally popularized in the United States to ensure that the leadership of a political party would do what it promised the voters it would. * Martin Van Buren, the great innovator of patronage, believed that party conflict was inevitable in and useful to a free republic. Reckoning that patronage was essential to the smooth operation of a party machine, he used it to take control of New York state politics and employed it on the national level with President Andrew Jackson. * The idea of patronage as a tool for good government has Hamiltonian roots. It supposes that many people in politics are going to act for the good of themselves rather than the body politic. It is prudent, therefore, for wise and judicious leaders to have ways to rechannel these selfish motivations for the general welfare. Insofar as they are remembered at all, the political parties of the late 19th century are usually recalled with distaste. This was a time, it is widely believed, of massive corruption, relentlessly pursued by party 'bosses who only cared about lining their own pockets and not at all about the public good. Politics in the United States has evolved-and so much for the better. No doubt, the parties of the 19th century were deeply problematic and, in many instances, outright corrupt. Even so, the politicos of this long-gone era had an honest appreciation for the often selfish motives that drive people into politics and for how the parties could repurpose the all-too-human desire for money, esteem, and comfort for civil society's good. We can learn much from them today. The 19th-century bosses rejected an ethos Benjamin Franklin expressed at the Constitutional Convention. Arguing that members of Congress should receive no salary for their services, Franklin asked his fellow delegates: And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable pre-eminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters? It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your Government and be your AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

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