Government & Politics

scud

Government & Politics

Posted by: Scud

2nd Oct 2012 10:43am

Why are we complain about government.Sadly we put them in power,with hope they will get it right.But they all are tared with the same brush,how about getting really people to run for government.eg.working people not educated numb skulls.


Comments 2

tongboy
  • 3rd Oct 2012 09:04pm

The system that puts 'educated numbskulls' in charge was initially developed to create a situation where our best and brightest would rise to leadership. Unfortunately for this system (but very fortunately for the civilised world) modern society became highly specialised. This results in the system now only really producing the best and brightest politicians as candidates. Unfortunate because the best and brightest politicians are, I think we all agree, very far from being the best and brightest people. If it's any comfort, most of the day to day running of the country, i.e, the enactment of policy and the implementation of programs, is generally done by people who we did not elect but who are far from being the elitist 'educated numbskulls' you seem to despise so much. From a white collar point of view these people (the civil service) are very much 'working people'. Unfortunately, we don't offer very much money for this work, so the quality of it can be a little uneven at the best of times. So, we complain about government because we are not at all involved in it and society is structured such that if we want to make a decent living without becoming a lying politician, we will not get involved.

col001
  • 11th Oct 2012 10:19am
The system that puts 'educated numbskulls' in charge was initially developed to create a situation where our best and brightest would rise to leadership. Unfortunately for this system (but very...

I don't entirely agree with tongboy's comments. The civil servants are well paid, in fact pay increases for public servants have seen their pay packets grow to be on a par with the private sector. I do however agree with the comment that politicians are guided by what these civil servants say and many policies are subject to their opinions. Very much like "Yes Minister".

I think the problem we have is in the salary and the lurks and perks of our MP's. Sure they can work long hours, but it's rare. They seem to have more days off then on, although they claim they are working hard in their electorate.

I think it's as simple as complacency and attitude. Life has become easy for our politicians, they don't have a boss, as such, to please which make it easy to please themselves. They play with public money as if it's theirs. Ever hear a politician admit they made a mistake and wasted money, no they just go off and spend more to rectify the mistake and use cover-ups to say it was all part of the plan. We have been trending in that direction for the last few decades.

Unfortunatly complacency is not confined to those at the top and can easily rub off on your employees. It also make it easy for your employees, in this case public servants, to make and cover up errors, but more importantly give misleading information to drive a policy in a particular direction.

As in the case in Queensland with the Bligh government and the Tahitian prince, complacency can allow fraudulent activity to flourish.

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