In the article Arnold King reviews the book The Symbolic Uses of Politics.

King  says the following:

According to Edelman, here is how the insider-outsider interaction plays out (p. 23-28; as you read this, keep in mind something like Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, or the year-end tax bill):

as an introduction to the following quotes from the book:

Tangible resources and benefits are frequently not distributed to unorganized political group interests as promised in regulatory statutes and the propaganda attending their enactment…

and

The most intensive dissemination of symbols commonly attends the enactment of legislation which is most meaningless in its effects upon resource allocation. In the legislative history of particular regulatory statutes the provisions least significant for resource allocation are most widely publicized and the most significant provisions are least widely publicized…

Is it any wonder that some of us objected to the tax deal?  Is it any wonder why we are so frustrated by the acceptance of this outcome by so many people?

In the comments on the review, one person noted that the article Symbols and Political Quiescence by Murray Edelman published in 1960 in the American Political Science Review may be the basis for the part of the book reviewed by King.