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Is it just me or is the quality of politicians on a downward spiral? Between retirement-age out-of-touch boomers, clueless good-looking male liberals and corrup

Is it just me or is the quality of politicians on a downward spiral? Between retirement-age out-of-touch boomers, clueless good-looking male liberals and corrupt authoritarian plutocrats, it sure feels like there's a shortage of honest hard-working people in leadership positions. I mean it is kinda obvious that the system in western democracies is structurally flawed such that there's a selection bias for crooks and incompetent assholes (lobbying, i.e. legalized bribery), but still, how come the bad guys always seem to win? Or is this just a symptom of a deeper malady of modern society?

adverbly 2y ago
Not just you. And to answer your question, I don't think it's politicians but the entire way that society disagrees and discusses important topics. I've been working on a side project over the holidays related to this, but nothing to share yet unfortunately. Suffice to say, I would love it if we could frame discussions around specific policy issues, and focus on listening to one another and prioritizing and agreeing on problems as a first step before jumping straight into political rhetoric and speaking only to one's own base or those who already agree with you. Also somewhat related - the history of decline of political discourse is staggering. Apparently in the US, Abraham Lincoln used to debate by having 90 minutes of uninterrupted complex analysis. This has been replaced by modern debate formats like those popularized by the Jubilee YouTube channel which optimize for 10 second clips. Interestingly, there is a counter movement where long-form interviews are becoming popular again among niche crowds who actually want to hear and discuss issues. Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Lex Friedman, Sam Harris, Destiny to name a few. I don't think we've seen the end of the changes for these discussion mediums. Hopefully we'll see changes for the better!
- zahlman 2y ago
  >I've been working on a side project over the holidays related to this, but nothing to share yet unfortunately. What kind of project? >Interestingly, there is a counter movement where long-form interviews are becoming popular again among niche crowds who actually want to hear and discuss issues Indeed. Personally, I wish we could have that kind of content, but edited to remove the filler (redundancy, time spent reasoning out a position) while still accurately representing nuanced views and the evidence for them.
roncesvalles 2y ago
I don't think so. I think that the archetype of what a politician should look like has broadened from a hypermasculine silver fox rich-grandpa type with a mid-Atlantic accent. Bill Clinton was the last one.
rossdavidh 2y ago
I'm not saying nothing's changed, but there was a lot of dirt on previous politicians that didn't get surfaced and pored over in the 20th century, as it has been in the 21st. The saying about not wanting to know how sausages or legislation gets made, is a pretty old one.

adverbly 2y ago

Not just you. And to answer your question, I don't think it's politicians but the entire way that society disagrees and discusses important topics. I've been working on a side project over the holidays related to this, but nothing to share yet unfortunately. Suffice to say, I would love it if we could frame discussions around specific policy issues, and focus on listening to one another and prioritizing and agreeing on problems as a first step before jumping straight into political rhetoric and speaking only to one's own base or those who already agree with you. Also somewhat related - the history of decline of political discourse is staggering. Apparently in the US, Abraham Lincoln used to debate by having 90 minutes of uninterrupted complex analysis. This has been replaced by modern debate formats like those popularized by the Jubilee YouTube channel which optimize for 10 second clips. Interestingly, there is a counter movement where long-form interviews are becoming popular again among niche crowds who actually want to hear and discuss issues. Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Lex Friedman, Sam Harris, Destiny to name a few. I don't think we've seen the end of the changes for these discussion mediums. Hopefully we'll see changes for the better!

zahlman 2y ago
>I've been working on a side project over the holidays related to this, but nothing to share yet unfortunately. What kind of project? >Interestingly, there is a counter movement where long-form interviews are becoming popular again among niche crowds who actually want to hear and discuss issues Indeed. Personally, I wish we could have that kind of content, but edited to remove the filler (redundancy, time spent reasoning out a position) while still accurately representing nuanced views and the evidence for them.

roncesvalles 2y ago

I don't think so. I think that the archetype of what a politician should look like has broadened from a hypermasculine silver fox rich-grandpa type with a mid-Atlantic accent. Bill Clinton was the last one.

rossdavidh 2y ago

I'm not saying nothing's changed, but there was a lot of dirt on previous politicians that didn't get surfaced and pored over in the 20th century, as it has been in the 21st. The saying about not wanting to know how sausages or legislation gets made, is a pretty old one.