In democracy generalizing politicians as fraudster ethically correct?

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   Siddharth Mohanposted 10 years ago

   In democracy generalizing politicians as fraudster ethically correct?
   
   Don't you think in democracy where the citizen is above everyone where citizen have the right to vote, elect, change . . generalizing politicians in a cluster like hypocrite, fraudster makes you one?
   
   

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   johnsonrallenposted 10 years ago

   Hmm... this is a great, thought-provoking question. Many people (myself included) tend to bring attention to the fact stereotyping and racism are wrong and yet do exactly what you say- label politicians as self-serving liars. I try my best to look at my weaknesses and adjust as needed. This is a great reminder to me that humans are humans and it's not my place to judge a person simply by his/her job, race, religion or anything else for that matter.

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      Siddharth Mohanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      As you've mentioned about yourself, this reply was an honest one and this is not just the apt answer in my opinion but also the message i wanted to convey

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      AlexK2009posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My cynicism about politicians comes from watching the top ones over  a few decades.  Prediction on the bases of experience is not stereotyping, it is a survival tactic.

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   SuhanaSposted 10 years ago

   but we don't know who is the best or perfect for this post then how can we say that vote is our right

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      Siddharth Mohanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Suhana what i wanted to know is that if 7 people are contesting election from a constituency, majority of people have a tendency to speak that all 7 are corrupt   without even knowing about each of them . . they generalize all on basis of acts of few

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   Larry Wallposted 10 years ago

   This question was answered for me in a college history class. I had written a book review and in the review I made the erroneous statement that "all politicians are crooked." The professor wrote on the paper, "Can you prove this?" I could not because it is not true. After graduating with my journalism degree I had a lot of contact with political leaders and concluded that the ratio to honest vs. dishonest is probably the same as the general population.
   
   I did find that some just do not have a basic understanding of government and do not always realize the limitations on their authority or fully recognize their responsibilities.

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      Siddharth Mohanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Word of experience . . This reply made me more confident that my stand is correct

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      johnsonrallenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great post, Larry.

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   JThomp42posted 10 years ago

   Just like in all walks of life, you have the good, the bad, and the ugly.

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      Siddharth Mohanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      exactly, we just need to find and vote for Clint Eastwood . . i mean THE GOOD

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      JThomp42posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Correct my friend!

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6. 85

   AlexK2009posted 10 years ago

   This is a good but slightly confusingly phrased  question. 
   
   In theory the citizens have the right to vote etc, in practice this is often a sham because people vote along tribal lines. In most constituencies of the UK for instance a monkey would be elected if it wore the right colour rosette (Blue for the Nasty Party,  red for  Tory Lite and Yellow for the Banana Bunch....). This means that many politicians can largely ignore the public.  Furthermore the parties are so similar in policy and outlook that the only radical choice is a fringe party: my current choice would be the Raving Monster Loony party if I lived in England, but I will vote SNP till Independence is achieved.
   
   
   
   Here in the UK we have seen so many  non-sexual scandals involving our elected representatives and the government ministers picked from among  them that it does seem reasonable to assume a successful politician is bent either for themselves or for their party until the reverse is proven.
   
   It does often seem that our democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner and also what is on the proposed menu.
   
   So while it is true to say we get the politicians we deserve, and studies show people vote for someone seems like them, this does not make us fraudsters, since to a large extent whoever you vote for the government gets in.  We have to vote for the candidates picked by the local parties and do not have a "none of the above" box on the ballot paper.  One excellent suggestion I heard was, if you have no candidate you want to vote for always vote for someone other than the one in office.
   
   It is also true that the system tends to make honest people corrupt once they enter politics, and that there are insufficient safeguards to make sure they act honestly.  But if these safeguards were in place then only people who loved power would stay in the game.

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   NateB11posted 10 years ago

   The system is corrupt, doesn't matter who's in office. So the statement that politicians are corrupt is a statement of fact; you cannot operate in a corrupt system without being corrupt or corrupted; you are part of it. The economic system, the social system are all corrupt, rooted in greed and division. And politics, inherently, involves conflict and division; in other words, insanity. I find it funny that people blame the politician, but the politician elected always inherits what is already in place; it would be impossible for him or her to know what is in place before-hand, and this is why they make false promises. But you are correct, none of it is possible without us; we make society what it is, what the politicians are and we give the whole system power by participating in it from top to bottom, in major and minor ways, even psychologically in our thinking, our competitiveness, our identifications, our selfishness, our conformity and caving in to a system of hate and struggle, getting heart-disease and committing violence against ourselves and others in blatant and subtle ways.

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   conradofontanillaposted 10 years ago

   There seems to be two questions here. One, the main question. Another in the premise.
   At least the tacit definition of democracy is consistent.
   The main question must be rephrased thus:
   In democracy is it ethically correct to generalize that politicians are fraudsters?
   The qualifying question indicates a definition of democracy, "where the citizen is above everyone where citizen have the right to vote, elect, change..."
   "...generalizing politicians in a cluster like hypocrite, fraudster makes you one?" could be interpreted as:
   "...generalizing politicians in a cluster like hypocrite, fraudster makes you a hypocrite?"
   It is hazardous to give an answer when the question is not clear.

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