Now and again when I am called on to make public remarks to a new group I note, somewhat tongue in cheek, that I come to the table with three impediments; I am a lawyer; I used to be a member of the US Congress; and that makes me a former politician.
Comes now what is billed as a "worldwide poll" calling itself the largest international poll ever undertaken. Commissioned by the BBC World Service, the Gallup pollsters interviewed more than 50,000 people in 68 countries, which is said by extrapolation to represent the views of 1.3 billion people worldwide.
The question being, "Who do you trust?' you almost can guess the inevitable outcome.
Worldwide, politicians represent the least trusted occupation in the survey, scoring only 13%. Religious leaders are the most trusted (33%), followed by military/police leaders (26%), journalists (26%) and business leaders (19%).
When I was a youth I seem to recall that a similar US poll showed that on questions of trust, politicians were also at the bottom, ahead of only used car salesmen. Thus the poster with a picture of Richard Nixon with the legend reading: "Would you buy a used car from this man?"
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language reflects these findings, listing two definitions for "politician" - "One who is actively involved in politics, skilled in government" or "a schemer who tries to gain advantage in sly or underhanded ways." In a similar vein, Roget's Thesaurus lists synonyms of office seeker, demagogue and sycophant.
Small wonder that Pres. John F. Kennedy once remarked: “Mothers may still want their favorite sons to grow up to be President, but they do not want them to become politicians in the process.” Pres. Ronald Reagan used to ask jokingly: "Do you know how to tell when politicians are lying?" His answer, with a rueful grin: "When their lips are moving."
The problem with politicians, as I see it, is not so much them as it is us.
Those elected to office may be too faithful in their representation of their electorate. Too many of the few citizens who bother to vote (about 35% of those who could), want instant gratification, immediate solutions to every problem. Too many think government can and should do it all.
"What have you done for me lately," is the public cry. De Tocqueville was right in predicting that once Americans discovered they could elect leaders that would buy their votes with other peoples' money, democracy would become a farcical bidding war. Now we are there.
The politicians so disliked in that BBC poll are those who pander to the avaricious greed de Tocqueville saw then and we see now. Power goes to the highest bidder and the bets are paid with taxes or borrowed cash. Yet is anything likely to change? In the US both parties are alike in
all the worst ways; spending, debt, destruction of our liberties.
In America the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina was met by the disaster of bungled government at every level. Yet politicians now scream for more of the same government that could not deliver. And no doubt stupid people will swallow that old bait yet again.
"His public life is an endless series of evasions and false pretenses," wrote H.L. Mencken about "the politician under democracy." That was almost a century ago.
Has anything changed? Or do the people get what they deserve - "representatives" that are much like the voters who choose them? Look in the mirror.
That's the way it looks from here.
© Copyright; Foundation for Economic Growth and various authors. Individual authors retain their own copyright.
Top of Page
|
