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On 24/12/2020 18:37, bill w wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:mailman.43.1608835035.16066.extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">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</div>
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<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
* I'm not counting religious posts here, of course.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ben Zaiboc</pre>
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