Talking to people from different places in the world you realize just how many of them think their politicians are corrupt. So I wonder why is it so? When I asked this question ChatGPT it gave me this answer: Do you agree or disagree? Is it possible that good people just do not want to be politicians?
the ai seems to have neglected the main problem. all politicians are human . except, of course, stubbs is mayor of talkeetna ak
the feline is a very corrupt animal, but they are not human. the truck, in any case, is to have operational checks and balances in the larceny.
We have given (or rather, they have taken) the state massive unprecedented power. Those who control the state will always seek to siphon off some of this power for themselves. It's just human nature. Power corrupts. This is why we should distribute political power in as decentralised a manner as is possible.
But then they say that deregulation benefits only the rich and that a trickle-down economy never works for the poor.
Decentralised, not deregulated. You could have a small jurisdiction that is radically communist and it would still be a decentralised system.
It seems like the ones that are corrupt (or suspected of being corrupt) grab the headlines possibly distorting reality. Even your quote says something that might not have been noticed. ". . .the reasons why politicians may become corrupt can vary widely." It acknowledges that it's not a given that a politician will become corrupt due to the reasons cited. Perhaps what the news should focus on is the good politicians doing good things and our perspective might change. But we know that bad news grabs more attention than good. The problem may be the media rather than politics/politicians. Then again, I may be too optimistic and want to believe that my representatives really do care about me. Why else would I vote?
So instead of giving power to federal politicians you propose to give unlimited power to local politicians in hope it would eradicate corruption. I'm sorry I'm not convinced. I agree with those saying that corruption is just in the nature of humans. And cats.
It depends on the intentions of the people who go into politics. If their intention is to seek power, they will get corrupted very quickly. If their intention is to do good things for the community/country, the maybe have a chance to not become corrupted. Unfortunately, the former type seems to be VERY attracted to political office. Also, the nature of the system itself leads to corruption. They say that political office changes the inhabitant more than the inhabitant changes political office. Luckily, we have a system of checks and balances, therefore, outright corruption usually gets noticed and snuffed out. Other countries, with less robust systems, are less fortunate.
I would say- several reasons. The first is the opportunity. Positions of power present a great many opportunities to gain in some way. Many of those ways are easy to rationalize as righteous in the mind of the person doing so. Easy money or gain, no sense of guilt, and each time it gets easier. It becomes common practice, and as these are successful- they grow in size, complexity and frequency. If everybody in similar positions does it, you are the oddball if you don't... and in some cases, represent a perceived threat by those who do. You could get elected with the bet of intentions, and find yourself in a game where cheating is the defacto policy, and you have little choice but to go along. Politicians are granted power, but there is virtually no oversight of conduct that has any power to stop abuse. We don't demand transparency either, so it's easy to hide- and there are a thousand ways to do it with little to no risk. IF violating the primary obligations of honorable conduct in office resulted in that person being immediately thrown out of office- that conduct would no longer happen. That requires some kind of real-time, fully independent oversight with full transparency and the authority to do so. We don't have that now, but it is the only approach that can work. The US Congress is the only branch of government whose only oversight is- itself. It has the power to remove an unfit member (they haven't ever defined what that is) by a 2/3 vote. Problem is, this is like the players in a ball game also being their own umpires. Doesn't work, and any attempt starts a partisan war. Thus- our Congress has only removed two members in this way since the civil war, 156 years ago. They literally have no way to clean their own house, and little desire. They are just now beginning to understand the critical condition that has brought them to. Removal for violations of sworn duty are not like removals over political positions or effectiveness, those are in the hands of the voters. Violations of the obligations to honor and integrity of office will never end unless there are serious and timely consequences applied consistently. Old saying about politics from the British, Lord Acton- "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Rules that are not enforced are not rules, they don';t work- they just hang on the wall to create the illusion that they matter. Got kids? What happens if you don't enforce the rules? Same thing.
Humans are wired to be corrupt. Otherwise there would be no corruption. Humans are also wired with a conscious and taught not to be corrupt. So we battle our entire life -- good against evil. Some yield to evil and some yield to good. Some yield to a crime of opportunity and some yield to a planned crime. Life is about making daily choices. Maybe politicians have more 'opportunity' to become corrupt.
We are being loved to death. "Be deaf to those who love you most of all; they pray for bad things with good intentions." Seneca.
I like how people here are united and basically saying the same thing in unison but if the conversation somehow turns into a concrete discussion of concrete politicians there will be a war and blood all over the place.
I think in most of the cases they do not BECOME corrupt, they start out that way. It is becoming more and more common for parties to seek out people to run instead of people deciding to run. And, in order to run, whether you decided yourself or a party asked you, you have little chance of winning unless the corrupt party helps you with money, which buys your vote and makes you beholden to them.
