[ExI] hypocrisy?

Ben Zaiboc ben at zaiboc.net
Thu Dec 24 23:24:14 UTC 2020


On 24/12/2020 18:37, bill w wrote:
> Ben, I have long wondered if politics is a high profession or a low 
> one.  I think it can be and we have some good people - who are greatly 
> outnumbered by the corrupt ones.   bill w

Do you take the aphorism "power corrupts,.. etc." seriously? I do. Any 
serious political system should take as an axiom that people or groups 
in a position of power will abuse that power if they can, and have 
built-in safeguards against it. We're a long way from that.

I've known precisely one principled politician, someone who genuinely 
(afaik) wanted to do good rather than just gain power or feather their 
own nest. They didn't last long. I can't say whether that was because 
they weren't very good at it, or because the system works against such 
people, but I have my suspicions. They gave it up with the stated reason 
that they realised they weren't getting anywhere and never would.

I have no doubts that politics is one of the lowest professions there 
is, if not the lowest of all*. I would rate it even lower than the legal 
profession or journalism. If that's not damning, I don't know what is.

* I'm not counting religious posts here, of course.

-- 
Ben Zaiboc

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