Personalities and Politics

Recently I got a barrage of criticism for simply questioning some of the criticisms of the Prime Minister and it has got me thinking.
If one thing unites people in their distaste for politicians habits, it's the fact that they tend to sometimes get a bit unpleasant with their criticism that it becomes personal. Some are aware of this and pledge to put an end to "Punch and Judy" politics before falling into the same trap themselves, not because they are hypocrites, but because it is an easy trap to fall into.
Put simply, the primary aim for politicians in a democracy is not to make the World a better place, it is to get elected so as to make the World a better place. Whether they aim for the latter can be debateable, although many start off with the right aim in mind. However the first element, getting elected, means that the aim is to win power in a competitive arena and that in turn means that one tends to see ones opponents as the enemy. People being individuals, some take it more personally and fight dirty compared to others and from what I have seen first hand in the past few years, you get to see some pretty muddy parts of the stream.
But that does not invalidate the aims of politicians, nor the Democratic process, rather it means that one has to be fully aware of that competitive element and to try and deal with that, or else one might just as well try and stop logs being chucked downstream without dealing with the people chucking the logs.

Paul Burgin
(Jt CPF Co'Ordinator)