Government usually not much different than us
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Do we get the government we deserve, as George Bernard Shaw is variously quoted as saying, or do the governments we elect actually reflect how we function at very fundamental levels?
Many believe that the art of politics requires a disregard for truth, an abandonment of the public interest in favour of special interests and a single-minded pursuit of power over all else.
Politicians and lawyers compete with each other for the lowest ranking in opinion polls.
That sounds harsh, but in our polarized political system it is the job of party loyalists to destroy the credibility of their opponents.
H.L. Mencken, an American journalist and essayist, wrote: “Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.”
What if politicians, in just about all cases, are not out to feather their own nests in terms of graft, the taking of bribes or otherwise enhancing their own fortunes.
What if they simply interpret the public interest in a manner that is different from that of their political opponents, or even your own view?
What if they truly believe they are pursuing the “right” course on behalf of their voters?
It may even be more startling to consider that the very traits we all tend to attribute to politicians, and roundly despise, are commonly held by just about everybody we know, including ourselves.
Hands up all those people who are totally honest in everything they do. OK, not too many.
How about raising your hand if you sometimes embellish a story about yourself to make yourself seem just a little bit more attractive or important?
In politics we call it “spin” but just about everybody I know does it.
Does anyone you know need to be right most of the time, and proves that by trying to make someone else wrong?
How about someone you know who wants you to take sides when they are involved in a dispute — just to help to prove they are more right than the other guy?
Sounds a lot like political parties where one side is more right than the other side and the superior numbers (political poll) are trotted out to prove how right they are.
Na-nah, na-nah, nah nah … my side won!
Have you ever watched friends or spouses (or yourself) in an argument and come to realize they are talking about the same event but their points of view about that event are so radically different they may as well be talking about different universes.
That happens every day in the Legislature in Victoria and the House of Commons in Ottawa.
It is often said that we criticize or judge others for what we don’t like about ourselves.
Could it be that we expect our elected representatives to be better than we are and then judge them harshly when we find they operate with the same foibles as most of us do?
Got a tip or a comment? E-mail me at phrushowy@shaw.ca
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