Why would anyone go into politics, if not to get filthy rich, enjoy all those perks of office, paid for by the taxpayers, and, let’s be honest about it, have no responsibility whatsoever for anything while not really doing all that much?
It’s always funny to hear politicians talk about their desire to ‘change things for the better’ and ‘improve the lives of others’. Power, or rather abuse of it at every given opportunity, is obviously never mentioned. Even though the moment they get elected or appointed, politicians start seriously overdoing it with their perks and freebies, basking in the adoration of all sorts of wealthy people, who always want something in return for their hospitality and generosity.
The thing is that most people go into politics because they can’t find a decent job outside it, being lazy, not very bright and basically hopeless in pretty much everything they do. Politics offers a safe haven for them. They can screw up as much as they want, but they would never be taken to account, hiding behind collective responsibility and having all the opportunities in the world to develop the necessary connections that would be so useful once they step down or are pushed out from their jobs.
The more adventurous ones start making money while they’re still in office, using a string of fixers and a complicated off shore banking arrangement. Conflict of interest, you say? Well, who’s paying attention to conflict of interest nowadays? Pretty much no one. Political leaders start wars on false pretences these days and yet, no one even bothers to find out whether they had benefitted personally from them. You want examples? I don’t think I need to mention any really. they are all over the place.
And have you noticed how every politician publishes his or her memoirs, once he or she steps down, and it’s always about big advances and huge royalties, even if the books are s..t don’t really sell all that well. It’s usually the easiest way to pay off politicians for their ‘hard work’ while in office. Not to mention lectures, consultancies and directorships, even though these very same people struggled to find a job before they went into politics. Strange that, isn’t it?
Lectures are especially a blatant way of paying off former politicians. What on earth can they say of any interest that would be worth fifty or eighty or a hundred grand a time? And who on earth would pay that sort of money to go and listen to their drivel, considering that they can’t even speak without looking into the prepared text? Of course it’s a bribe packaged as an enormous fee for a supposedly extremely entertaining lecture. And the bigger the treachery of the politician while in office, the higher the fee.
Oh, some people might say, but what about the people, who go into politics having earned or inherited a lot of money, why should they be tempted by making more of it in high office? And the answer to that is simple: wealthy people never say no to more money. Plus, they like the idea of getting a free ride, if you know what I mean, and carry no responsibility for what they do, or don’t do, as it is often the case with politician. Vain, pompous people love to have power over others, even though they usually have no idea how to use it for the benefit of others.
In an ideal world becoming a politician should be a punishable offence. But we don’t leave in an ideal world, so we all have to suffer and carry on.
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