A Little Harsh, Maybe...?

We force politicians into doing stupid things just to appease the (voting) public, as opposed to forcing politicians to do intelligent things that help us get through something.

For example, it was not wise to release American oil reserves in an effort to lower gas prices. The move had zero effect on anything anywhere, yet some of us insisted it be done.

In the final analysis no one country has direct control over gas prices. (You know, if you don’t count Saudi Arabia). Oil is a worldwide commodity.

We aren’t accustomed to considering the other 194 countries on earth. How can we have 195 countries on the planet, that ALL use fossil fuel, and still consider blaming one man for the plight of high gas prices?

Besides, who pays gas prices as high as they do in Hong Kong, Central African Republic, Monaco, Norway, Zimbabwe?

People in Hong Kong pay $12.00 for a liter of gas. I would think they’d be at the forefront of trying to control gas prices, if that were at all possible.

Prices are set by a global market. Of this there is no denying.

I’m guessing that there are other instances where we insist politicians act, when politicians are powerless to make change. I just can’t think of other ones at the moment.

But to hone in on my point – we treat politicians unreasonably. We blame them for anything that goes wrong. We can be downright cruel to them.

But more importantly, we’re all too inclined to judge them unfairly, at which point we seek to oust them and find someone different. We’ve run through the political gene pool so completely, that we’re willing, or forced, to look to despicables and criminals, to fill the bill.

Make no mistake. I am most assuredly not trying to give these people a pass. I’m still a bit chapped by that whole Afghanistan withdrawal debacle.

But we have come to a place where we seem to be too comfortable unleashing our mass frustrations on these people. I’ve even seen an excellent and formidable congress person pushed out of office, for doing the exact right thing. (Against the Gun Lobby, if you couldn't guess...)

We have to stop with the full-throttle attacks on good people. The assault on a persons’ physical handicaps or personal characteristics is especially heinous…it’s critically hurtful, and it serves no useful purpose. Except perhaps it shows society’s inner barbarian.

When I say we expect too much, what I mean is this. Politicians are regular human people. As regular humans, we are frequently doing the best we can. I’m not saying politicians don’t do bonehead things. We all know they do.

But we will never get better leaders if we don’t stop treating them so harshly. Sensitive, smart, impressive and good people will never take the job, if we continue to disregard the humanity of the person in office.

On the other hand:

1) Politicians need to learn how to direct us toward ways to achieve our collective goals. And we have to learn how to stop whining to government. Instead we need to figure out how we can take care of our problems together, as a community.

2) Politicians need to be able to say that they don’t have an answer. They need to be willing to be more honest, and more committed to the people, not the corporations.

3) Politicians need to learn to tell us to our faces when we are wrong about something. Instead of trying to make us all feel happy, we need to hear it when our expectations are unreasonable.

4) Honestly, historically, politicians are more salesmen than they are leaders. They are practically, only, selling themselves to donors. We need to find a way to allow corporate interests to support politics, anonymously. As a politician, perhaps it is best if you are clueless to the identity of your biggest donors.

We should pick the smartest and best person, credit them for their accomplishments and encourage them at their failures.

We should support good politicians, because they are good people, not because you THINK they share your beliefs.

I don't think we should blame them. They are hardly ever the CAUSE of the problem. We are in essence blaming them because they cannot solve all our problems. Like it or not, that is unreasonable.

The only thing we should do is scrutinize the money, the actions, and the power they have.

But if they're trying to work hard and they're trying to be honest we should encourage them, and stop treating them like disappointing super-humans. I think we would garner a better class of people and more effective leaders.

Think of how much better we all do when we are forgiven appropriately and encouraged gracefully.

We all perform much better when we support each other.