Don’t believe the words they say: Politicians revert to their incentives

By David McElroy · September 17, 2011

If you really want to be successful in politics — in a big way — you need to first sell your soul to the devil. Or, at the very least, you have to shred your ethics and learn to lie. Without that foundation, you’ll never make it far.

Some people believe I’m being cynical or maybe just kidding when I say such things, but I’m not. I’m dead serious. If you’re really going to tell the truth and keep your promises and be consistent with what you’ve said before, you’re in big trouble, because you’ll be living in a world where pretty much everybody else is willing to change stories or ethics or principles as they have incentive to do so.

I could pick on almost any major politician, but the story that brings this to mind right now is something going on with Barack Obama’s administration.

When Obama came to power, he made a lot of noises about having the most ethical administration ever. Blah, blah, blah. That’s all I hear when politicians start saying such things. Pretty much every president comes to power making similar noises, because he’s been “cluck, clucking” at the other side for their infractions on his way to office. Once they’re in power, though, their administration does the same things the other ones have done.

So how’s that working out in real life? Well, it seems that the Obama administration is ultimately interested in the same things that every administration is interested in — keeping power and getting more of it. Politicians’ focus isn’t primarily on doing what’s right. It’s on re-election and stroking powerful friends.

In the wake of the Solyndra collapse, we’ve now found out that when the loan was being put together, administration officials were worried about the deal collapsing during the re-election campaign and making Obama look bad. (Yep. That certainly happened.)

Earlier in the week, we found out that the White House pressured an Air Force general to modify his congressional testimony to be more favorable to a company owned by an investment firm headed by a big Democratic Party donor. Coincidence? Of course.

There are plenty of examples, as there are in each administration. Since it’s obvious that it happens with each new administration — no matter which party they’re from — shouldn’t it be clear that the problem is with the system itself?

Politicians have an incentive to tell you what you want to hear when it’s convenient, but do whatever is expedient for them when it comes time to deliver. When are more in the public going to understand that the problem isn’t the politicians we elect? The problem is in a system which forces politicians to follow their incentives. We might have talked about this before.

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A state legislator in Maine has been stripped of the ability to speak in the state Legislature — and her votes are not being counted on legislative issues — all because she made a truthful social media post. Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn, Maine) opposes allowing boys to compete against girls’ teams in school athletics and she’s become known for making an issue of it. On Feb. 17, she posted on Facebook about a recent example that she found outrageous. She posted side-by-side photos of a boy named John who competed last year in a state track event and won fifth place against other boys two years ago — and a photo of the same boy (now called Katie) who won first place in the same event this year against girls. Whether you find this outrageous or not, Libby is clearly being honest and truthful about the objective facts of an issue of public importance. But the state Legislature censured her. Democrats decreed that she could not speak in the House and that her votes would not count on legislation — until she apologized for the outrage of telling the truth. She refused and her constituents have been unrepresented in the state House since then. The people who promote this ideology are out of touch with reality and won’t rest until they force the rest of us to join them in this delusion. But even if you agree with “trans” ideology, you should be appalled at this heavy-handed attack on political speech.

The late Steve Jobs was at the center of our culture’s transition from analog to digital. He co-founded Apple Computer. He led the team that revolutionized personal computing with the first Macintosh. As CEO of Apple, he led the development of the iPhone and later the iPad. You would think the children of such a man would be surrounded by technology. But Jobs and his wife Laureen didn’t let their children use iPads. Their home had few screens of any kind. Even though Jobs spent most of his time developing and selling Macs and iPhones and iPads, he was home with his wife and children for dinner when he was in town. The family ate together at a simple wooden table in their kitchen — and there were no digital devices or focus on popular culture. Instead, he’s said to have guided his family toward deep discussions of art, philosophy and education — with no iPads to be found. If the man who guided the development of such products chose a different path for his own children, does that suggest that his digital experience taught him that children need human connection, not screens? And does it suggest the possibility that we might be better off if we made the same choice for our families?

For four years, Donald Trump’s supporters screamed that everything that went wrong was the fault of Joe Biden. They were sometimes right and they were sometimes delusional. (Anybody who knows me understands that I can’t stand Biden any more than I can stand Trump, just for different reasons.) But for two months, Trump has rampaged through U.S. political life — vandalizing pretty much everything in sight — and the vast majority of his supporters are silent at best. Many watch as he blows up the world economy and they make excuses for him. They’re in absolute denial, even about things that Trump is doing very intentionally. Anybody who understands economics and history knows that tariffs are a terrible idea from a pragmatic point of view. Anybody who values individual freedom knows that tariffs are massive taxes on individuals — and they’re a tool of political control over the ability of people to trade freely. Trump is the antithesis of everything which political conservatives stood for just a few years ago. It’s far past time for people who claim to be conservatives to reclaim the principles and values which they used to claim — and stop this mad man before he can accelerate the day when we experience economic and social collapse. Open your eyes to reality and reject this lying narcissist.

On a live awards show Sunday night, one man made a joke about a female celebrity. The husband of the celebrity was offended and hit the man who made the joke. Or maybe it was staged for entertainment. Who knows? Who cares? Social media is full of discussion — and even arguments — about this idiocy today. This baffles me. Let’s assume for a moment that the event happened as reported. People have been having such idiotic fights ever since there have been humans. Half the bars in the world see such brief dustups regularly. It simply doesn’t matter. The fact that so many people believe they need to talk about this — or even need to have opinions about it — is more evidence of the bizarre media brainwashing that convinces many to care passionately about brain-dead trivia. Your life will be happier and saner if you focus on yourself, your family and your friends, not on whatever scripted (or spontaneous) bilge that the media wants to pipe into your home.

I’m in the middle of migrating this website to new servers this week. This means you might encounter some unexpected behavior until I get all the bugs worked out. Clicking on my links (including this one) might cause your browser to give you the message that it’s a site without a current security certificate. It’s not actually unsafe, but there’s something which isn’t yet set up for the security certificate. I apologize for any such errors you might encounter while the process is going on. If you notice any problems with content which didn’t migrate properly, I would appreciate you letting me know the details at davidmcelroy@mac.com. Thanks for your patience.

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