“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive… be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” CS Lewis
I can’t hear you. I didn’t see a sea of hands rise at that question. Who wouldn’t want to be a myth maker?
Elections are coming everywhere. WE have to wonder though, what makes for someone deciding they ought to become a politician?
Is it the high regard in which politicians are generally held? Let me count the ways…
If not that, were they influenced by the fact that their friends and neighbors stand amazed at their greatly articulate appreciation and summation of what concerns the constituency? This is assuming that they do not live alone with livestock.
Do they have a messiah complex that says I am the One, I Know what is right and what is wrong and I can tell You? They must by necessity be willing to be crucified as well, then.
Or are they, as some suspect, going for the cushion of an enormous pension, constant ego-massage through attention, and literally saying, ‘hey, right or wrong, I’m getting attention, I’m making money, and you’re not.’
Is it that they don’t care that in order to serve federally they may assume the Good Person position, but still have to tow the party (as far as parties go, I’d rather have Lennon, than Lenin) line which can compromise any sense of good they may inherently have?
So there’s a built-in parental, authoritarianism they willingly accept, much like protesters needing the bad state, or adult children ‘rebelling’ but still dependent upon their parents. One in which we, as constituent children, are meant to be seen, not heard; and when heard, wrong first, until proven right by excruciating and expensive mistakes the ‘parents’ make.
They strut forward, assuming an infallible attitude while looking backwards yapping about the future.
This is exactly how politicians stay in business. Passing the buck, shifting the responsibility in the name of self-interest – either theirs or their party – until the next election when new faces will say the same things in a different manner, and once more there will be a temporary belief.
Amazing that every generation, and some of the older generation, still fall for the same parlor tricks, or whatever suits their particular prejudices at the time resulting in an endless repetition of hope, belief, and disillusionment. And the endless storm of useless debate.
The only time politics and its practices might change is when people demand an open accountability from those elected to serve; and when those elected to serve do so under a forced acceptance that has consequences from not doing so, other than to not be in office.
Politics that compromise the principles of the voters’ wishes serves only those who rule, and when they’re witnessed fouling the principles for which they were elected, there is always an insistence on a certain inability, and a reliance on public fairness.
These would be the very same things they deny their voters in general, and in particular. If you’ve ever had trouble – frustration, delay – dealing with the city, or the larger government, you know what I mean.
Then you wonder, just who are these assholes my tax dollars are paying so that they can be rude and offensive in their dealings, unsympathetic and high-handed with me?
Are their bosses, the politicians, aware of this? That their bureaucratic voodoo dolls are misbehaving? Or are they too busy having the light shine on them when they want, sneaking in policies that change our lives, stuffing their pockets with benefits, and basically being those people whom in high school and later everyone wanted to kick the shit out of? And still does.
How about we make some new rules.
#1 Politicos: reveal. Be openly accountable. It isn’t a Halloween trick to know that you must obey your Ottawa masters. If you change a position for that reason, say so.
You know, something along the lines of: “I believe this. My boss, Stephane, said no. In order to keep my job, and to keep doing good for you, I had to agree.”
Don’t lie, and say what you think now is in accord with what you have come to learn.
There are some of us who are aware of those sides of the issue that you suddenly become ‘knowledgeable’ about who then wonder why the hell didn’t you know before you made your statement.. if you’re really not just an ignoranus…making up crap to be talked about..which then becomes .. politics.
(And has everything been forgotten, too? We’ve got murderers, and criminals, liars, and the morally retarded in office. They might as well announce then that They are the face of the new Family… if they’re not white, middle-class, and intelligent.
Get out the K-Y jelly voters, we’ve come a-courting.
Then we can have a true discussion about why you lie, why you waste our time and money on self-serving discussions whose outcome is already known, and why therefore there is so much talk, so little progress, so much frustration in voters and would-be voters, and so much more taxation with the appearance of government – politics – rather than a true governing.
One time, there was a seventeen year old boy who said, “That government is best which governs least.” He read, and re-read throughout his short life a book titled, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice.
#2 Tell us why you think you ought to lead us.
Therefore, why you know more about what we feel, think, and desire for our future as a town, city, province, state, and community.
#3 Be accountable.
Where is the money going, and who is responsible ultimately for spending it? If you don’t know, say so. Then tell us who is preventing you from knowing. You know, like “That dickhead from Crunchville, Ontario, or Bumfuck, Idaho says if I want to know who spent what on things, I have to give my okay for money for his people to have say.. a hockey arena.. or he won’t tell me.”
(See what I mean about those snobbish bullies you always wanted to kick in the nuts – what a system).
Guess what? We’ll demand the lame stream media co-operate, instead of burying the story or sensationalizing it. We know it happens all the time. We’ll also hold your hand while the Richard Widmark evil guy pushes the granny state down the stairs, giggling because he’s still at the top.
We can make up the rest of the rules from what is rare, but termed common sense.
Parties, or people? Politicians, or government? True believers, or reality?
What a choice.
While it may seem like choosing between interrupting the baby-seal (taxpayers) hunt, disrupting the engine of business (politicians) while knowingly becoming aware you’ve entered into the infantile monotonic droning of Atwoodian denial of a moon-landing, or running into the street declaiming like Bob Dylan did that the ‘sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken,’ this simply puts the power back where it belongs.
Or are you too greedy to know?
Yours is the hand in the politicians’ glove. Quit punching yourself in the face, and paying for it.
Politics is an engine that needs attention to run properly. Forget the fools’ gold of a good show.
Get the work done.
The results, in their glory and shine, will speak for themselves.
©Editors, Mad Poet Press
©Dean J. Baker, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material that appears here or has appeared here without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dean J. Baker and deanjbaker.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape
*the boy was Shelley, the great English poet, in early 1800′s
* the book was written by William Godwin in 1792
Political correctness is a euphemism for dictatorship through the lowest common denominator, a conceit engendered by a government of fear and a people easily manipulated.
