Not only is Congress bought and paid for by the powers that be, but politicians have a built-in conflict of interest against actually solving problems.
As a reader notes in the most cynical - but perhaps insightful - summary of U.S. politics I have seen recently:
Of course, there are some notable exceptions, such as Alan Grayson, Brad Sherman, Ted Kaufman, Bernie Sanders, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. But the exceptions only prove the rule.This is the way of Washington. There is no future in actually fixing a problem, as that's a one election cycle boost.
The way to permanent electoral success is to pretend to fix the problem, which you can run on for one cycle; let the problem occur again, which you can run on fixing for another cycle; if called out about not fixing the problem the first time, pull out the all purpose answer "we didn't go far enough"; and each "fix" makes the bureaucracy (your minions) bigger and bigger.
Its all kabuki theater to keep the issue alive, get re-elected, and gain more power & money by ever expanding bureaucracy. Actually solving problems is a dead-end.
the same is true for doctors...their incentive is to keep us coming back...
ReplyDeleteSanders and Kucinich both flip flopped over the health care bill when they were offered enough. Grayson always supported it, I think. I don't know how long Kapture supported it for. It looked like she waited quite a bit. These guys are big government hacks, who I think don't really have a very strong grasp of economics or the importance of the free market.
ReplyDeleteRon Paul is the only one with any principles. ...Darrel Issa doesn't seem that bad. Feingold isn't too terrible although I believe he voted for the health care hackery too.
This is true in many industries:
ReplyDeletecomputers (do you really think Dell wants your PC to last more than 18 months?), software (just look at the industry built around supporting, "protecting", and updating Windows) cars, electronics, etc.