Sen. Saxby Chambliss(R), GA

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@Clothahump

Please tell us that you posted that as a joke.

So tell us – what’s your beef with Barbara Jordan?

[Frank]

@EddyTeddyFreddy

So tell us – what’s your beef with Barbara Jordan?

Forget it, Jake, it’s Clothahump.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@This Year's Model

Forget it, Jake, it’s Clothahump.

Well, I realize that, but still!

[ArrMatey]

@Little Nemo

People don’t really want good politicians. What do you think happens when a candidate tells the truth?

“You people want lots of government services. So I’ll give them to you. Of course, I’ll have to raise taxes to do it.”

“You’ve all said how much you hate government pork projects. So elect me and I’ll vote against that proposed federal funding for your new school.”

The voters say they want one thing and then vote for people who give them something else.

I’ll buy this as a partial explaination- it does seem to make sense. However, I know that at least in my case, I’d rather have a politician who’d be willing to say these things, and follow through with them. Of course, saying anything along the lines of the above would probably make you an instant target of your opponent, (“He said he was going to raise taxes!”).
Now I’m interrested. What would be people’s reaction at a personal level to a politician who went this route?

[jayjay]

@ArrMatey!

Of course, saying anything along the lines of the above would probably make you an instant target of your opponent, (“He said he was going to raise taxes!”).

Two cases in real world politics that point to this being a correct prognostication: Mondale vs. Reagan and Sen. Tsongas’ 1992 bid. Reagan made huge hay of Mondale’s unguarded “yes, we’ll raise your taxes” moment and Tsongas was made out to be a pessimistic prophet of gloom & doom because he told people the cold, hard truth.

[wonky]

@ArrMatey!

I’m wondering how it happens. I know it’s a meme that politicians at a national level are bad and corrupt, and we almost automatically blame everyone else for voting people in that we don’t approve of, but… Doesn’t it make some sort of sense that there would be -some- good, effective politicians out there? And I ask this in all seriousness. Is it just a given that there aren’t, and therefore we won’t work to try to make it so?

Would you want to be a politician on the national scale? I sure as heck wouldn’t. What’s in it for people of good faith? Headaches, heartaches, and empty pockets.

[World_Eater]

@ArrMatey!

I’m wondering how it happens. I know it’s a meme that politicians at a national level are bad and corrupt, and we almost automatically
blame everyone else for voting people in that we don’t approve of, but… Doesn’t it make some sort of sense that there would be -some- good, effective politicians out there? And I ask this in all seriousness. Is it just a given that there aren’t, and therefore we won’t work to try to make it so?

The problem is the system has become irreparably broken. The election campaigns nowadays are more apt to weed the best candidates then retain them. To succesfully get elected these days you must…

1. Rich is better (See Corzine or Bloomberg)
2. Be well connected politically (indebting you to people when you get elected)
3. A bullshit artist (try being honest, you’ll lose in a heartbeat)

Take Wesley Clark. He was boring and very media unfriendly (would stumble over himself thus making people think he was a flip flopper), but I feel he would have done a hell of a job.

Even if a good person gets elected, they’re too small to make an impact on such a big corrupt system. The system hasn’t failed us, the society taking part in it has. Characteristics such as honor and dignity have gone out the window. There’s no sense of working towards the greater good, only the selfishness of getting “yours”.

Another huge problem is the reduction of extremely complex issues into black and white left vs. right arguements. The public has no attention span for nuance, usually leaving a problem with just two “solutions”, both equal in extremity. Because both solutions are stupid neither are enacted, and the result is we get mired in inactivity.

I think after 200+ years the monkeys have finally figured out how to exploit the system. Things will continue downhill until a new system emerges, and the cycle of self destruction begins anew.