Politics

A McDonald's restaurant in Chicago, on July 7, 2015. (Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)

The Scratching Post got me started.

I am beginning to suspect that the problem is that competent people don't want to go into politics, there are too many other opportunities out there. Going into politics means dealing with a whole raft of unpleasant people and not that many people are willing to subject themselves to the abuse they will be receiving in the political arena. This means that the only people in politics are either incompetent or deranged.

If you want to succeed in politics and change things, you need to be two faced. With one face you tell the masses what they want to hear so that you can get elected. With the other face you talk to your supporters and work out what you actually want to do. This isn't too different from the way things are now, it's just that there are an awful lot of politicians whose hidden face is only working to improve their personal position. They are not working to improve the lot of the people.