This is the occasion when truth is the first casualty of the war – “them” and “us”. It usually follows a set pattern:
“We” will give you all that “they” were not able to even though they promised it: the alternative scenario is “Don’t vote for “them”; “they” will never give you what “we” can give you”… and so the game continues ad nauseam. The only stratum that loses out is the (rapidly diminishing) thinking class.
A political campaign is a determined effort to throw out a set of politicians who are admittedly bad and put in their place another pack who are thought to be better. The former assumption, I believe is always sound; the latter is just as certainly false. For if experience teaches us anything at all, it teaches us that a good politician is as quite unthinkable as an honest burglar. The general public demands certainties; there are no certainties.
When a candidate for high public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense but a mob whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing up ideas, or even of understanding any except the most elementary. These are the men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is the fear of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
All the odds are on the man who is, fundamentally, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most cleverly “sell” the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. And as soon as his little pink bum hits his parliamentary seat, he forgets who put him there, why he is there and what he is supposed to do and focuses solely on how much personal gain he can achieve in his allotted term in “office”. And again, an honest politician is about as common as an honest burglar!
The problem is that I cannot see a better way…..
Don’t ask me to run for any level of public office – I never make promises I know I cannot keep….
Until next time (but not in the public eye),
Peripatetic Scribe
A good blog. Here in Spain today we have the election and we shall throw out those who have made a mess and put in place a government with the needs of the people in their minds. We have suffered greatly over these years and it is time to stop. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous in Spain - I wish you all the best of luck. Only time will tell whether Rajoy will be a valuable Prime Minister and if his government can deliver those fundamental needs you deserve. P.S.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff P.S. Here in NZ we call it "climbing the slippery pole" - do anything to get to the top (or the bottom if politicians there are anything like ours!)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous in NZ. Yes, I often believe that politics is a "race to the bottom", hence the comment above about anyone standing for such an office has to show his mind is a vacuum! P.S.
ReplyDeleteI posted this blog at 0840 hours on 20 November. The response, as I write this at 1700 hours European time, has been fantastic. If anyone wants to download it, translate it and send it to others they are more than welcome to do so. Thanks to you all. P.S.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
ReplyDeleteCroatia is witnessing a similar situation
currently and it is full of people thinking in
terms of emotion and full of fear. And someone
is relying primarily on that.
Honest politicians? Even in my country there
are some, yet sadly they are not the key
players.
Nevertheless, when you shoot, you always have
to aim higher in order to hit the desired
target. So, I'm looking forward to our
forthcoming elections with optimism!
Lucana
A new start for us in Spain. We have a new government democratically elected. Now everyone here wants to move forward and make a better future.
ReplyDeleteHello again to Spain. The fact that you have DEMOCRATICALLY elected a new government is the most important. In the last 2 weeks we have seen Brussels using its "power" in both Greece and Italy. My best wishes to all 46 million of you! P.S.
ReplyDeleteLucana - I feel that the same "lot" (HDZ) will again win the election. And my belief is that they will be so involved in "cozying up" to the EU that the welfare of the average individual will take a back seat. Hope I am wrong, but....P.S.
ReplyDelete