Quote from: Pylons on April 25, 2010, 09:36:55 PM
There is a simple reason for such things.
Because America is a democracy, politicians have to get elected, clearly.
To get elected they need people to want to elect them, again clearly.
Because they need the peoples' support they'll get jelly-legged on issues such as taxes and healthcare.
And if they got elected once, the people electing them almost definitely support that politician's ideology.
Therefore, if they decide to side with the other party on a controversial issue they will often not get reelected.
Democracy sucks.
There is an old saying. Something along the lines of "Democracy is a terribly inefficient system of government. It is riddled with flaws. And it is the best one that has ever been found."
You could probably speak on the flaws of Democracy all day and not run out of topics, but does that really make it worse than say... Communism? Hell you could write an entire series of books on the flaws of Communism. But even with that said both forms of government have their own positive notes as well.
My real problem with your post is that you seem to be trying to lie an entirely human issue on Democracy. As if to say that this problem is any better in a one party system such as a Dictatorship or Communism. In this case you have the Ultimate example of partisanship, because you only have one option. Yes, politicians in Democracy have their problems, but the same can be said for.... practically every form of government in existence.
But I digress... how about another topic...
How about the big C? C-c-c-c-c-c-corruption. I suppose the topic of corruption is too broad to really be spoken on in one sitting. Perhaps... abuse of power in order to further personal gain? The advancement of personal wealth or power? Really you can find at least a half dozen stories of politicians abusing their positions in corrupt and self-serving ways in any given country. If you can't then I think its probably more likely that you just haven't seen it, not that it isn't happening. Of course, that's just my opinion. I doubt there are any of us who can say that we haven't caved to a "moment of weakness" at some point in the past, even if it was just a minor thing. Not to say that most people aren't "mostly good". It's the "mostly" part that you have to be concerned with. There will always be incidents of politicians lining their own pockets at public expense. Even if its small for this politician, even if it ends up being a rarity for this politician, it will happen. And all together you end up with a lot of small rare incidents building into a true detriment to an entire nation. And a few rare giant scandals that rock the fabric of your nation.
Of course, this is hardly limited to politics. It was Abraham Lincoln who said "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." The more power any single individual has the more likely they are to act corruptly and the greater these corruptions are likely to be. And once again this is hardly the only issue at play in the great game of politics.
You know... seems like this thread is just a vent for my frustrations...