Does society encourage politicians to be slimy?

We also have a “gotcha” mentality that forces them to choose every word carefully. One misunderstood word and rhe oposition is all over it as proof that this politician is out to destroy life as we know it.

@Judi right, that is exactly what I mean. It almost encourages the exact behavior that we all supposedly hate, doesn’t it?

One thing, at least with the US system, that I think contributes to it… is all the big dollars that are spent on campaigns. If you want to get elected to any major office, pretty much past something in the House of Representatives, you have to have big time sponsors, which usually means corporate sponsors. If your opponent has 50 million dollars from one industry, how are you supposed to combat that with just regular donations? You have to get 50 million somewhere so you start doing stuff for an industry to get donations from them.

We’d be a lot better off if they finally fixed campaign finance. But its a pipe dream more than likely.

Pretty much, and it’s frustrating as hell.

What I think has happened is that the average guy has now come to believe in the absolute validity of his opinion. This is a natural result of the social media landscape. No matter how marginal one’s point of view, one can now find a community of like-minded people, and even news outlets, that will mutually reinforce that view. And every one can now use the platform of the internet to shout his opinion from the rooftops.

The result is that everyone can now feel like an expert. we used to be more inclined to defer to the judgment of our elected leaders. They were our sages, so to speak, and we let them shape our opinions because we assumed that they understood the situation better than we did (I think of Roosevelt’s “Fireside chats”). Not anymore. we now want to hear them echo our expert opinions back at us.

This is why politician’s platforms are now based on focus groups. They understand that it no longer matters what the wisest course of action is. What matters is what “Joe Six-pack” thinks. In turn, much of what Joe Six-pack thinks is based on what corporate America has manipulated him into thinking.

I don’t think society “encourages” sliminess. That would seem to imply that’s something society wants.

I would say that society, by not keeping politicians in check, creates an environment for politicians that allows sliminess to flourish.

Or…. does is the job of politician iattractive to people who are slimy.

“Regular folks”, learn a skill or trade and go to work every day for a paycheck. The people who decide on a political career have decided they don’t need to do that.

I think in America we have handed over to much power to our politicians. According to the latest US Census figures I could find, In 2008, 71 percent of voting-age citizens
were registered to vote. In the 2008 presidential election, 64 percent of voting-age citizens voted. Of all registered individuals, in 2008, 90 percent reported voting in the presidential election.

“Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying civilization.” – Aristotle

I don’t think that our behavior encourages bad behavior by politicians. Not all politiciians are liars and cheats.

There are a lot of liars and cheats who are politicians though.

I think it is taking the easy way out.

Gosh, at first I miss read your question. I thought you were asking if we like our politicians to be slimmy. I was going to say “No, I like them fat and jolly like Santa.” No, I do like them to be slimy. I think Bill Clinton gets a pass cause seems to be in loveless marriage of convenience. What Arnold did was crazy nuts. He’s an asshole.

Ooops I meant to say “No, I don’t like them to be slimy.”

Don’t forget that a huge part of the problem is that everyone is “qualified” to be a voter by virtue of meeting very lax standards: 1. being a citizen / resident of the jurisdiction and 2. breathing.

So all that a politician has to do is convince a majority of voters in his jurisdiction (and by that I mean “a majority of people who will actually vote”) that his hair is nicer than the other fellow’s or that his wife is prettier and dresses nicer, or whatever, and he’s in.

A certain portion of people in the world see politics as a way to prove to themselves they are powerful people. Their self esteem comes from having this power.

Remember that at our cores, we are still creatures seeking status, and the reason we seek status is in order to attract more members of the opposite sex to mate with us. I.e, a lot (but my no means a majority) of men go into politics or become rock stars or well-known writers is because that’s the way to get the girls.

Money and power and sex are all different ways of demonstrating status. For some, the desire to achieve the highest status possible is all that motivates them. More of these kinds of people tend to be attracted to politics as a profession because that is one of the major roads to status. And when these types achieve power, they want to trade it in for the perks: the women; the money; and displays of power.

This doesn’t seem to apply to women as much. There female politicians who commit fraud, but it seems like fewer of them are like that. Also, they don’t seem to be as interested in sex. Or they get caught less often.

It’s not really society that encourages this, but human nature. Although they two are intertwined so I don’t how to get them teased apart.

You have to follow the money. It leads to the big pot of slime.

Lobbying amounted to an incomprehensible $3.5 billion in Washington last year. That’s just in DC. Imagine the dollars flowing to influence legislation in all 50 states as well. When a politician lets that money, and all the secret money PACs spend to keep pols friendly to their special interest influence them, then they end up representing a tiny special interest, usually to the detriment of the vast majority of their constituents. You don’t win office by admitting you are doing that. And so the Big Lie comes into play. Claim that you are for $4 billion in corporate welfare for Big Oil because of jobs, or to keep the price of gasoline at the pump low. Hope voters are too stupid to realize it’s their money whether they pay it at the pump, in taxes, or just stick it on the nation’s credit card and pay for it with interest to boot.

I think that society expects the best out of their politicians, unfortunately, the best are not attracted to politics. The slimy people prevail because honest person either quits or fails re-election. Look at what happened to Grayson in Florida. He spoke truth to power and became a one term representative. The best liars stay in congress the longest because most people can’t handle the truth.