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Yet every single politician values power more than the average person, and they're treated as saints.

by jayess 11y ago

eggie 11y ago
In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Currently they clock in at a hot 13% "approve": http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_...
- jayess 11y ago
  Yes, but most people give their own congressman good ratings: http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-own-representative.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-ow... I suppose I meant, in the context of this discussion, that people here tend to complain that "we" should decide how MZ spends his money and that it's a scandal that he's not participating in some collective decision making process. Of course that necessitates politicians and bureaucrats making those decisions, instead of MZ. As though they are better equipped to spend MZ's money than MZ.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Congressional approval ratings have nothing to do with individual politicians' power and influence; it measures voters approval of an institution over which each person rating the institution has a vote for at most 3 members, each of which spends a substantial amount of their campaign time using the rest of the institution as an excuse for anything that their constituents might not like. Really, low Congressional approval ratings are, arguably, evidence of the success of individual politicians' "don't hate the player, hate the game" strategy for maximizing their personal position.
wfo 11y ago
For almost everyone I have ever met, the only time they would think to use "saint" and "politician" -- or the name of any given politician -- in the same sentence is if they're both walking into a bar accompanied by a rabbi.
cookiecaper 11y ago
There's really not much of a dichotomy between power and money at the level we're discussing (the level where power is mostly influence). Money is liquid, tokenized power. If you have enough of money, you can get virtually anything you want. That sounds like the same thing as power to me. There is a cruder form of power, which is physical might, but that usually doesn't come into play in jurisdictions with functioning legal and military systems.

Yet every single politician values power more than the average person, and they're treated as saints.

by jayess 11y ago

Yet every single politician values power more than the average person, and they're treated as saints.

eggie 11y ago

In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Currently they clock in at a hot 13% "approve": http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_...

jayess 11y ago
Yes, but most people give their own congressman good ratings: http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-own-representative.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-ow... I suppose I meant, in the context of this discussion, that people here tend to complain that "we" should decide how MZ spends his money and that it's a scandal that he's not participating in some collective decision making process. Of course that necessitates politicians and bureaucrats making those decisions, instead of MZ. As though they are better equipped to spend MZ's money than MZ.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Congressional approval ratings have nothing to do with individual politicians' power and influence; it measures voters approval of an institution over which each person rating the institution has a vote for at most 3 members, each of which spends a substantial amount of their campaign time using the rest of the institution as an excuse for anything that their constituents might not like. Really, low Congressional approval ratings are, arguably, evidence of the success of individual politicians' "don't hate the player, hate the game" strategy for maximizing their personal position.

wfo 11y ago

For almost everyone I have ever met, the only time they would think to use "saint" and "politician" -- or the name of any given politician -- in the same sentence is if they're both walking into a bar accompanied by a rabbi.

cookiecaper 11y ago

There's really not much of a dichotomy between power and money at the level we're discussing (the level where power is mostly influence). Money is liquid, tokenized power. If you have enough of money, you can get virtually anything you want. That sounds like the same thing as power to me. There is a cruder form of power, which is physical might, but that usually doesn't come into play in jurisdictions with functioning legal and military systems.