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Thread: Characteristics of Politicians

  1. #1
    ))) joke, relax ;) coqauvin's Avatar
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    Default Characteristics of Politicians

    I have a convoluted chain of thought leading into this one. I was reading about a recent Canadian political decision to deny British MP George Galloway entry into Canada. This was a decision done by the Minister of Immigration, Jason Kenney, who sets the laws for who is allowed into Canada. The reason for denying Galloway entrance, on the official level, is that he is seen as openly supporting a terrorist group from when he directly led a humanitarian convoy through Gaza. On a slightly more subtle level, it's more because the Canadian government right now is a Conservative government that is hanging on precariously to power - over two elections, they still only have a minority government.

    So, realizing that this move is a crass political push to keep unwanted ideologues out of the country (which is anathema to democracy), I started to go over my long list of why I don't like Stephen Harper and the way he runs his government, but this quickly shifted into: What characteristics make a good politician?

    This is what I would like the topic of the week to be about - list for me the realistic aspects you would like to see in your members of local government, and on a federal level.

    For myself, I would like to see, mostly, statesmanship. Politics, in Canada, has recently become more and more an undiguised power mongering culture. Harper is ruthless, carries a grudge and will make very obvious, blatent political power moves without real thought of the consequences. A very obvious example of this is his prorogation of the House of Commons as an abuse of a political tool to avoid a potential loss of his government.

    This isn't to say that I don't understand why he would do this, it's more a matter of what led him to that position in the first place. He consistently pushed through bills that were offensive to the other parties, with the ultimatum of "Do it, or I'll force an election." When the election came, nothing changed (I believe 4 seats got changed, or maybe 7) and he still attempted his heavy-handed style of ruling by giving an economic update that was unacceptable to the other parties, as signing it would bankrupt them.

    This isn't the kind of political play I want to see in my country. We're a nation sitting on vast natural resources, and instead of developing the country itself and improving our position, the major players in Canadian politics are scrambling for scraps of power and slapping their opponents with it. It is, in my eyes, unprofessional.

    As sad as it sounds, really I just want to see someone with some class come into office, and be good and passionate about what they're doing. Where are the Washingtons and Roosevelts of today? Where is a second coming of Pierre Trudeau? Where is the demonstration that those in office understand their responsiblities and actively work towards them? Well, that is enough of my naive ranting on politics.

    So, I'll restate the heart of this thread: Describe the characteristics you see as intrinsic to a good politician. If you want, apply these to real-world politicians in your area and compare and contrast.
    Last edited by coqauvin; 03-29-2009 at 10:05 AM.

  2. #2
    kiss my sweaty balls benzss's Avatar
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    At the base level, a politician needs to be a good organiser, loyal to his policies and a specialist in a field government requires of him.

    In reality, pretty much all modern politician lack any integrity and are merely electioneers.

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    feel like funkin' it up gwahir's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by benzss View Post
    At the base level, a politician needs to be a good organiser, loyal to his policies and a specialist in a field government requires of him.
    What if his policies suck?

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    kiss my sweaty balls benzss's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gwahir View Post
    What if his policies suck?
    Then he won't get elected

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    feel like funkin' it up gwahir's Avatar
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    kiss my sweaty balls benzss's Avatar
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    You serious?

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    feel like funkin' it up gwahir's Avatar
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    Are you? It's absurd to say that a politician won't get elected if his policies suck. I'm asking if it's better to change from whatever policies got you elected if the new policies are better, or if it's better to hold onto your old ones because that's what the public voted for.

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    kiss my sweaty balls benzss's Avatar
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    Ideally a politician's policies are restricted by constitutional limits and what his public will accept and agree with. In Bush's case the majority didn't vote for his policies the first time but he got elected thanks to the vagaries of the electoral college system, and he abused the constitution. I can't speak of any details though since, you know, I'm not American.

    And it depends on how often elections come about, whether or not they're general elections, local elections, even mayoral elections... where does the politician's responsibility lie? With his local constituents or to the country as a whole?

    My point mainly is that being elected saying one thing, then doing something else is a bad way of representing your constituents or executing the office. I'm not saying that being completely rigid is a good thing, but just being loyal to the initial policies is better.

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    Band simonj's Avatar
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    I think it's pretty important to note that whether a politician's policies suck or not is a very subjective matter. While we may all agree (or in some cases, assume) that Bush's policies suck, they appealed to a lot of people on the mid-to-far-right scale. He is still a very revered politician in many people's eyes.

    He may have twice swindled the American people into voting for him as President but those weren't the only elections he won. He was doing something right in enough people's eyes to get him into public office.

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