What Elected Officials Do

Politics is a messy business.  On the one hand sometimes the process involves identifying a problem and then using reason and logic to find an affordable and workable solution.  On the other hand, there is the “hidden agenda” of politics.  This is the process of advocating a “solution” under the guise of solving a problem but in reality hoping merely to benefit one group, individual or “special interest.”  Often the two become blurred and even interchangeable.

Consider World War II.  At the time hostilities had broken out in Europe and Asia, the overwhelming sentiment in America was to stay out of the war.  With 20/20 hindsight most Americans would say that it was “right” for America to enter the war primarily because (a) we won and (b) Hitler and the Japanese were evil.  However, none of that was clear in 1940.  Largely “hidden agenda” politics was used by our elected officials to advance resistance to the Axis powers with less than logical solution identification politics.  Finally, the bombing of Pearl Harbor tipped the balance into war.   

This is why it is so important to elect persons of integrity and intelligence to office.  When the “rubber meets the road” the personality of the elected official is the measure of the scales in which the decision will be made. 

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