Good politicians exist: the challenge is to find a balance between power, ideology and duty
Why do we hate Politics? In a way, it’s something that is very subjective and may differ, depending on who you ask. On the other hand, I imagine that there are some reasons that we all share. The Shout Out UK video on this issue makes a very good point. That, in fact, we don’t. We may hate the way that politicians act at times and be quick to react but when you actually think about it, people love elements of how the system works. Just not all of it.
Contrary to media representation, not all politics or politicians are bad. For example, we love the idea of democracy and, to be fair, you can’t have democracy without politics of some sort, right? On top of this, while the national conversation may frustrate us, the idea that we have a representative for our area, fighting our corner, is quite appealing. It is, however, when politicians pretend to listen to you, a skill that they seem to be very good at, that seems to frustrate us. After all, our views, no matter what level of government, are there to be listened to and acted upon.
On the other hand, it is often the role of the politician to take a consensus from a group of people and act on it. After all, if you tried to keep every single person in the UK happy, you would be going mad by now. Despite this, having been on the receiving end of not being listened to by politicians several times, I can tell you that it is not nice.
While it may be tempting to think of politicians as a completely different species, it is important to remember that outside their jobs, they are ordinary people like us. Having said that, most of us didn’t go to Eton, which allows me to make the joke that David Cameron is an Eton Mess. It is, however, important to remember that some, very few but some politicians actually worked hard to be where they are today.
So, in other words, there are many reasons why we might hate politicians but for some reason, we never seem to think of the positives. I admit that, at least these days, they are few and far between, however, they do exist.
It is unfortunate that these good things often get lost in the murkiness of British politics. It seems that while there are those who on the odd occasion actually represent us, too many still think their status as an MP allows them to get away with murder (literally not metaphorically).
While I may not be a supporter of Labour, Jeremy Corbyn recently started putting questions from members of the public to the PM in the weekly Prime Minister’s Question Time. This, while unusual, is no bad thing, showing that he genuinely came into politics to represent the public. If only others would follow his example. Unfortunately, they are too caught up in what many politicians and journalists alike have called Playground Politics, where some just see it as a way to throw insults at each other.
Nevertheless, the problem with people’s idea of politics is that they expect action to be taken almost immediately. After all, democracy should be about the people, not politicians, right? Yes, but politicians are people too and with issues such as the EU, there is no quick fix.
Yes, politicians could, at times, behave more honourably. They do, after all, have The Right Honourable prefixed to their title. But despite its problems, politics is something that I’m afraid we cannot live without. If you think of democracy and politics as a relationship, they form a whole but there is always someone who is cheating with the people. It’s a strange analogy but just as it would never work in a relationship, having three parties involved, so it doesn’t always go smoothly here either. Democracy and politics can never be separated but neither can democracy and the people. I guess Democracy should set its relationship status as ‘It’s Complicated’. In the meantime, anyone up for a good game of parliamentary ping-pong?
