[Stratos]

Originally posted by Melcheor: I don't like politicians in general. They are out to get votes. Vote winning policies are all too often damaging for society, they just sound good.

Well, of course they want votes; that's how they keep their jobs.

Don't forget, though, that voters are actually voting for the "vote winnig policies" so they are partially to blame themselves.

I am now coming to the end of an education system which has become progressively more rediculous in terms of examinations and what we are taught, where the bad are rewarded and the good are barely acknowledged. Citizenship and Personal and Social Education sound good to voters, but as one who has been taught it I can tell you its all a load of bull s**t. Work I have done in General Studies has gone into the bin at the end of lessons, I have learnt German until the age of 16, only to forget it all because the international language is, rightly or wrongly, english, and hence i have no use for German. I have been taught in classes with brain damaged children in the name of "inclusion" when all it accomplishes is the dissruption of my education and the alienation of the disabled kids. To teach them seperately would be segregation and hence does not win votes.

Ahh yes, strange and osbcure education policies. I can go on all day about those but I won't. I DO wonder, though, if you were forced to learn German? If not, then you can't really blame the education system for German not being as international as English.

I am learning to drive, but in order to do this I must learn to play a computer game called "hazard perception" which has about as much relevance to driving as Icewind Dale. Again, a political idea aimed at making newly qualified drivers safer. It doesn't work though.

Politicians like to do these kind of things; it make it look like they're actually doing something about traffic accidents.

But consider the alternative:

I strongly believe the main reasons behind traffic accidents are quite simple: people are ignoring traffic rules, drives under influence or a combination of both. But a politician can't say that out loud, at least not if he wants to keep his job. Voters wouldn't like to hear that; instead they want the politicians to just wave their magical wand and solve all problems. Most voters probably wouldn't vote for that politician again and he would be out of a job. Whether the elected official keeps his job or not depends on the number of votes he get, and by presenting some uncomfortable truth he risk losing his job.

Consider this; how many people would want to risk their job by doing the same? How many people would run up to the company CEO and say to him that the reason that the company is doing poorly is because he suck at management. Politicians are beating around the bush on some things because doing otherwise and they put their job on the line. This is also a probable resaon they come up with all kindm of strange solutions to various problems. It makes it look like the done at least something.

My experience of politics is based on how it has affected me, the beaurocracy and the glorification of what is essentially a popularity contest, has left me with a sour taste and a distrust for politicians. I'm not saying I've been hard done by, because in the scheeme of things, I havn't. It has just left me with the opinion that those who want power are exactly the people who shouldn't have it. No, I dont like liberals, but that's probably because most of my life has been with a labour government in power (even if its not that liberal). I probably wouldn't like a conservative government any more. I don't think its 'cause I don't have a heart...

Unfortunately, this appears to be a side effect of the Democratic system. Perhaps it would be better if all politicians only worked halftime as politicians, that they had a secondary "real" job by the side and that their income wasn't as dependent on their actions as politicians. But then again, politics takes up alot time and it's difficult to combine a normal job, an political comission of trust and some form of private life.

Finally, I would say it takes a certain kind of people to become politicians. You would have to be somewhat ambitious and like the idea of wielding power and influence. With those comes a certain degree of self-centerness and "egosim". If you lack those traits, then you probably isn't even considering running for office in the first place. I see this as more or less unavoidable whatever your political system is.

[ 09-26-2005, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Stratos ]