Failed idealism converts reformers into concealment-driven operators

Evidence

It was not, moreover, the violation of stated principles for the purpose of cementing himself in office that most clearly revealed the change in Moses. Rather, it was the method by which he insured that, once in office, he would have specific powers sufficient for his purpose. For the method was that of concealment and deviousness.

Once, no reformer, no idealist, had believed more sincerely than he in free and open discussion. No reformer, no idealist, had argued more vigorously that legislative bills should be fully debated, and that the debates should be published so that the citizenry could be informed on the issues.

But free and open debate had not made his dreams come true. Instead, politicians had crushed them. And now he was going to make sure that, with the exception of Al Smith and Belle Moskowitz, no one—not citizenry, not press, not Legislature—was going to know what was in the bills dealing with parks that the Legislature was going to pass. The best bill drafter in Albany set to work.

— Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 769

Categorization

• QUESTION: Caro attributes Moses’s turn to concealment to his dreams being crushed by politicians — a psychologized causation worth interrogating. Do those who wield drafting power later justify secrecy as retaliation for earlier defeats?
• XREF: connects to: Complex bureaucratic warfare can defeat a reformer without identifying a killer — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 374; Falling under a powerful mentor’s spell shifts a reformer’s focus from issues to maneuvers — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 586; A political mentor can convert an uncompromising idealist into a pragmatic operative — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 595 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Deferential invisibility inside power corrupts an idealist’s stated goals #qualifies (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 620
• Reform-minded dissent within a system strengthens rather than threatens it #complicates (0.75)
• Failed assimilation attempts convert reformers into exclusionists #complicates (0.72) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1583
• Nonconformist reformers subordinate self-preservation to their moral principles #contradicts (0.70)