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7 Unhappy Truths About Politicians
by John Hawkins
July 6, 2012
Many political observers
believe Americans are too cynical about politicians. Take it from someone who
has been blogging for more
than a decade and has met countless
politicians and political aides: if anything, people aren't cynical enough.
1) The first priority of a politician
is always getting re-elected: As Thomas Sowell has
noted,
"No one will really
understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to
solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems — of which
getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is
number three is far behind."
Politicians may care about
sticking to the Constitution, doing what's right for the country, and keeping
their promises, but all of those issues pale in importance to staying employed
in their cushy jobs.
2) Most politicians care far
more about the opinions of interest groups than their constituents: Because of
gerrymandering and America's partisan fault lines, even under the worst of
circumstances, 75% of the politicians in Congress are in no danger of losing
their seats to a candidate of the opposing party. Furthermore, because of their
advantages in name recognition, fund raising, and the fealty of other local
politicians to someone they view as a likely winner, most challengers from the
same party have little hope of unseating an incumbent either.
The only way that changes is
if an incumbent infuriates an interest group on his own side that has the money
and influence to help a challenger mount a credible campaign against him.
That's why politicians in non-competitive districts are far more afraid of
groups like Freedomworks or the SEIU
than their own constituents. Incumbents can -- and often do, crap all over
their own constituents without fear of losing their jobs. However, if they
infuriate an interest group, they may end up in the unemployment line.
3) You shouldn't ever take a
politician at his word: People say they want a politician who'll tell the
truth. Unfortunately, that's not true. What people actually want is a
politician who'll tell them what they want to hear and call that the truth.
Partisans on both sides of the aisle have very little tolerance for politicians
who deviate from accepted ideology; so the politicians get around that by
lying. Most (but of course, not all) of the politicians championed by the Tea
Party? They think the Tea Partiers are riff-raff, but useful riff-raff; so they
cater to us. It's no different on the Left. Most of the politicians who talk up
the Occupy Movement think they're damn, dirty hippies. They're just useful
damn, dirty hippies. That doesn’t mean no politician is ever "one of
us," but they are few and far between.
4) Most members of Congress
aren't particularly competent: On average, the politicians in Congress are
generally well meaning, a little smarter than average, a lot more connected,
and wealthy -- but also considerably less ethical. Beyond that, they're mostly
just like a random subsection of a population. If you had a hundred random
Americans in a room, a senator probably wouldn't be the smartest person there, the
person you'd want in charge, or even necessarily one of the more useful people
to have around. In many respects, politicians are FAR LESS COMPETENT than the
average person because so many of them led pampered, sheltered lives before
they got into Congress and then have had their behinds kissed incessantly from
the moment they got into power.
5) Members of Congress are
out of touch: First off, even if members of Congress care about what their
constituents think, they spend most of their time in D.C., not back home.
Meanwhile, the median net worth
of members of Congress is about $913,000. On top of that, members of
Congress have staffers who do everything for them and treat them like god-kings
in the process. These aides schedule their lives, read everything for them and
regurgitate back what they think they need, and incessantly tell them how
wonderful they are. Most members of Congress have more in common with
celebrities like Madonna or Barbra Streisand than they do with the teachers,
factory workers, and small business owners who vote them into office.
6) Few of them will do
anything to limit their own power: It doesn't matter if you're talking about
big government liberals or small government conservatives, very, very few
politicians are interested in doing anything that will limit their own power.
That's why term limits for Congress have never passed. It's why the ethics rules
in the House and Senate are a bad joke. It's also a big part of the reason why
government gets bigger, more expensive, and more powerful no matter who's in
charge. If you expect to reduce the concentration of power in D.C. by electing
different politicians, then ultimately you're going to find that you're barking
up the wrong tree.
7) Most politicians only do
the right thing because they're forced to do it: As the late, great Milton Friedman once said,
"I do not believe that
the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important
thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it
politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is
politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right
people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be
out of office."
If you want to change how
politicians behave, then you have to change public opinion, build structural
limits into the system that force changes, or make politicians fear for their
jobs. If people are hoping politicians will do the right thing, just because it
is the right thing, then they’re hoping in vain.
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