The Problem with Politicians

Politicians know more about how to raise money and get elected than about passing sound, prudent legislation.

Have you ever noticed that every time there is a problem that bubbles up in our economy, the politicians are at their best pointing fingers at who is to blame?

For example, Stephanie Herseth held a press conference two years ago trying to get to the bottom of high gas prices at the pump.  It turns out that gas prices went even higher and the only thing I can gather is that the oil companies are unfairly profiting from the high prices.  But does she really know what caused the high prices in the first place?  I don't think there is any consensus on that as of today.

Why is it that government is always reactionary instead of proactive? Could it be that politicians simply spend too much time getting elected than understanding and explaining complex problems?

Just as major corporations who focus on the next quarter's profits instead of long term investments, our politicians focus on the next election.  The primary goal of every politician is survival, which we remember Maslow ranks just behind the needs of food, clothing and shelter. I would think survival would be placed before those items for politicians except Maslow places sex ahead of survival, and as shown by so many politicians, sex sure has prevented the survival of many politicians.

Back to survival. I used to think politicians told people what they want to hear because it was just the easiest way to get elected.  Democrats promised to spend more money, and Republicans vowed to lower taxes. 

When politics is reduced to 30 second sound bites, the debate turns to "protecting Social Security" and "fighting for teachers" without any details.

It turns out that I was wrong, I now believe politicians are not experts in any of the issues they are supposed to govern, and they don't have the breadth of knowledge to debate about the intricacies of the issues in order to give more than just talking points provided to them by their staff.

So when you hear politicians claiming to have an plan to solve any issue, remember that the details are less important than the sound bite, and the politician simply has survival on the mind, and the other things that come before it in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.