Political power matters mainly for what it produces in policy outcomes

Evidence

Still, at least a large part of the reason citizens will object when a party, officeholder, or electoral faction retains power by means of electoral entrenchment is that the resulting governance outcomes are likely to deviate from their preferences. And at least as a first approximation, these outcomes can be generated equally well by entrenching them directly or by entrenching them indirectly, such as by entrenching their proponents in office. This linkage between electoral and legislative entrenchment reflects the simple fact that political power is primarily valuable because of what it can be used to accomplish. — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 170

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Voters value electoral fairness independently of which policies result — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 166; Legitimacy requires a visible link between votes and policy, not just good results — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 98

Broader Connections

• Legitimacy requires a visible link between votes and policy, not just good results #corroborates (0.75) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 98