Political Standards
Imagine if everyone in the country acted like our elected officials. To permit yourself to ponder this idea, first suspend any partisan bias and belief that a politician who views the world differently from you is morally bankrupt, nothing but an idiot, and possesses all the attributes that have made the world a horrible place. Rather allow yourself to accept, if only for a moment, the reality that all politicians, those from your favorite party and those you hate, possess characteristics that don’t come from ideology or party affiliation. No, these traits are uniquely personal and in general are isolated to the rare person who seeks elected public service. But what if they weren’t unique; what if the entire population acted like politicians?
Lying wouldn’t be frowned upon, it would be the standard practice deployed by everyone, in every interaction. I’m not talking about the occasional white lie that slips out and is typically harmless. I’m referring the level of deception politicians deploy to knowingly manipulate the English language to confuse and distort reality. We have all seen it, a politician contorting themselves into verbal pretzels to say something that is easily proven to be false, to enhance themselves or to protect their party. At times it is hard to know the agenda of politicians, but the oft mentioned phrase has become true. “You know a politician is lying if their lips are moving.” What if that became how we all viewed each other. There would be no trust. There would be no reason to trust. It would be a lonely existence, as we realized that nothing, we heard could ever be assumed to be true.
Maybe it has always been true that politicians lie, but lately it seems more apparent. My recent aha moment was watching a senator on tape from five years ago passionately proclaim his moral conviction regarding a subject he thought we should emotionally connect with. Flash forward to today and he was, with the same passion, taking the opposite position as before. He did this without any acknowledgement of the contradiction of his deeply held previous views. He is not alone; you would be hard pressed to find a politician who isn’t guilty of this. Admittedly some are worse than others. But they all do it. “I am certain the answer is this.” Years later, “I am certain the answer is that.” It is maddening. Obviously, they know there is existing footage of the prior statement. They aren’t stupid. They just don’t care, and I guess they believe we don’t either. What if every person you relied on for your daily life changed their opinion from before because it was more convenient today to take the other side; your doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, accountant, aeronautical engineers, architects, everyone. Nothing would work. Society would be rudderless and unable to operate. Think that is an overstatement? Maybe, but think about it for a while. A world without any certainty feels dismal. In fact, innovation and evolution would be lost. Innovation pushes prior accepted truth. However, if the flip flop of a prior view wasn’t a result of innovation, but rather a change intended to foster more power, you could never discern between advancements and BS.
It doesn’t stop with habitual lying. What if everyone only thought of themselves, their own best interest, and their own power. What if we got up every day and spent all our time plotting to enhance our personal position; every decision we made was strategically considered and framed with the thought of how this would affect our own power. There would be no need to waste time fretting over what is best for the greater good. We would exist only for ourselves.
For politicians, they have convinced themselves the greater good can only be delivered if they remain in power. It is with that firmly held belief that they never miss a moment to advance their position and stature. It is so rare when a politician does something they believe is in the best interest of the country but not in their best interest. When it happens, it is lauded by those in the opposing party and skewered by the home team. Sadly, acting for the interest of others not aligned with you is punished and therefore not common.
Or what if people were unable to ever compromise. What if every decision was fought to the bitter end to score a point without regard for progress. We only must look to our government to see what happens when compromising is not possible. In Washington, elected officials choose their side, get certain of the wisdom of their belief, spend all their time diminishing the others view and digging a deep trench from which they are unwilling to leave. I don’t know when compromise became a bad word. It’s not. Failure to compromise is a recipe for a widening gap of common ground. Politicians have concluded that if they maintain power and aren’t held accountable by voters, there is no reason to leave their comfort zone. Compromise is hard, and politicians don’t like hard. They like power and their egos like prestige.
What if we all were forced to join a group to make a living and thereafter unable to use our own brain to form an individual opinion. For politicians the party has become more important than the country. They say otherwise, but given their willingness to say anything; do you believe them? Voting on party lines is another way of saying they aren’t thinking for themselves or for the country, they are thinking to avoid a primary challenge. It must be the greatest job in the history of the world for them to turn their pride card in when they take the oath and replace it with the company card. Frankly, there should be very few issues where everyone of one party agrees with one view and unanimously the members of the other party see it differently. What is the point of having so many in congress; why not just have ten people reflecting the distribution of the voters and let them throw barbs at each other. The outcome wouldn’t be any different.
What if we all hated those who disagreed with us and the only way we could win was to destroy those with opposite opinions. The amount of political vitriol is alarming and ridiculous. It is as though the worst schoolyard has been replicated by a bunch of spoiled brats in suits and slacks. You can’t work together if you refuse to respect each other, even if you don’t agree. Watching the childish acts of politicians and the anger they demonstrate towards each other is silly. If a company’s employees acted this way, they and the company would fail, and fast. Nothing works without some level of respect and decorum. Your household, church, school, work, or team would all fail if you couldn’t work together.
What if we thought and acted as if we were above the law. I’m amazed at the bold acts’ politicians have taken against the rule of law. Whether it is for their own gain or to protect a member of their team. I guess, nothing seems embarrassing if you are fighting to maintain power. I don’t expect perfection from our leaders. They are human and will fail. However, there seems to be a lack of ethics that borders on pathological.
What if once we had our job, we decided to stay until we died. I guess if you believe the world needs you, you never tire of believing the world needs you. At some point the power leaders have in the office is protected by those around them who benefit from being close to the brightest star. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should respect and value the elderly. I think we should also understand that sometimes they no longer reflect the interests and needs of the country. Experience is one thing; intransigence is another and the unwillingness of mature politicians to accept their time has passed is embarrassing.
If society mirrored politicians; you couldn’t trust anything anyone said, anytime someone told you something with conviction you would have to immediately discount it because you would be sure that in the future they would change their mind, everyone would exist only for their own power and personal wealth, there would be no way to compromise and get things done because compromising is weak, everybody would state their allegiance to a group at an early age and thereafter let the group decide what they think and what they do, all citizens would forevermore hate those who didn’t agree with everything they said and believed, the more power you possessed the more you believed the law didn’t apply to you and were free to do as you wish, and finally you would find your job and stay… forever.
That sounds like a miserable existence, a terrible way to function, and complete chaos.
Sounds like Washington DC.
Let’s not let our political leaders be our guide.
