Although most incumbent members of Congress succeed in being re-elected, Americanpoliticians are in fact more subject to the vicissitudes of electoral politics than are the politiciansof any other major democracy. They face re-election more often. They face the possibility ofhaving to contest primaries. They have to raise most of their own money. They are not given alarge measure of protective cover by strong political parties. The consequences for Americangovernment and politics are profound. They include such familiar and well-documentedphenomena as particularism, ‘pork’ and the power of special interests; but they also include thehigh incidence in America of purely symbolic politics, the drastic foreshortening of Americanpoliticians' time horizons and the difficulty that the American system often has in taking toughdecisions.