An image of independence from one’s machine can itself be a political asset

Evidence

The Governor did so not only because he shared Murphy’s dream and not only because he genuinely wanted to help the state’s urban masses but also because it was good politics. Grover Cleveland, he pointed out to his friends, had become a national figure because “the idea got around the country that he was independent of everybody.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 570

Categorization

• XREF: A recurring insight in the handbook of political power — the performative value of seeming clean — echoed in how later figures like Moses promoted their own nonpolitical purity in this same volume. — connects to: Early DIY cultural production framed independence from corporate media as political resistance — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 85; Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous shapes ideology and politics.

Broader Connections

• Early DIY cultural production framed independence from corporate media as political resistance #exemplifies (0.78) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 85
• Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous shapes ideology and politics. #corroborates (0.72)