I’ve seen it time and time again on countless shows: The Wire, The Borgias, Chicago Code, etc. etc.
A politician starts off with the greatest of intentions, wanting to genuinely help people and through one way or another they end up giving in to corruption. A few different things tend to happen:
1. They end up getting into bed with one criminal group (i.e. Irish mob) in order to have protection for it’s constituents from another criminal group (i.e. Bloods). The thought is keeping the people safe warrants siding with the bad guys to go against even badder guys.
2. They end up having to sell their soul and values in order to get elected, with the idea that once they get elected they can really help the people. In order to get rid of the incumbent corrupt politician they likely end up being just as corrupt.
3. Once they get in office they face resistance from other “seasoned” politicians in making any change, and can’t effectively keep their campaign promises, not because they don’t want to, but because they literally can’t get past the brick walls of other politicians and special interests.
4. They end up in a situation where they don’t have the funds to support the plans they have to help people and better society, and end up in debt to special interest groups and businesses that then are able to use their purse strings as puppet strings, negatively informing political policy.
I can’t help but think that these situations I constantly see arise in television shows reflect what truly happens in politics. People often say that all politicians are corrupt, but I genuinely don’t think they start out like that. I believe there are people who really want to help the people, who get into politics, and find themselves doing things they’ve never thought they would do.
What is the remedy to this? How do we clean up politics?
I don't know but I see where you are coming from.
ReplyDeleteYes, all of them! Maybe not all of them are corrupted in the criminal sense but corrupt in a sense that they aren't able to keep their promises which makes them seem as liars.
ReplyDelete"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
They're only human...imperfect humans that is. They may be able to fix a few problems but that's not sufficient. Only God through His son Jesus Christ can fix ALL of society's problems, not just locally but globally and we all should really have that attitude to want peace, harmony and prosperity not only in our town, state or country but everywhere around the world. Thus imperfect man can't do it.
Here's an article with a Christian/Biblical POV...
http://tinyurl.com/5wn96fc
What do you think?
@J - I think that belief in God and prayer that he can have his will are important to all aspects of life.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a post a while back about the "Problem with Politics" and how the nature of politics leads to the issues you bring up in this post.
ReplyDeleteBasically a politician's livelihood depends alot on how many people like them. I think many people go into politics with good intentions. But anytime you have to please thousands or millions of people to keep your job, you're gonna be tempted to compromise who you are in some way.
@Trevor- definitely agreed, it seems to be the nature of the beast.
ReplyDeletei dont know if we can clean up politics per say..it has to be an individual thing but honestly politics has been corrupt for so long...i don't know if there is room for change..but that's just me being an pessimist. hello im your newest follower!
ReplyDelete@Mrs Pancakes - thanks for following!! It does seem like things have been the same way for so long it may never change.
ReplyDeleteI beleive that people have to change their expectations of politicians in order for politicians to be less corrupt. As a Chicago resident, we accept and encourage corruption in a variety of ways. Too many for me to post on this blog.
ReplyDelete