Mike's Thoughts on Politics

Politics is a necessary game. It is a game played between three parties…the politician, the voter, and the big business. The politician is the hub of the game that works with the voter and big business to make them do what he wants them to do without them knowing it. He works with the voters to give them confidence that he will serve them well in whatever capacity he seeks. He works with the big business to make them do what he wants and he makes them think that it was their idea to begin with. These two together will win elections, and make the politician famous and favored. The trick and the challenge for the politician is to not let either side influence him. If he lets the voters influence him too much, he becomes nothing more than a community leader with no financial backing. If he lets big business have too much influence, he loses touch with the very voters he is representing and he will become greedy and corrupt.

This game is extremely challenging, and it takes a very special and select group of people to play. Of course, once a politician gets into office, a 4th entity enters into the game….other politicians. They will run the spectrum of greedy and community leaders. Identifying each and playing to their desires is part of the dance as well. With each bill that is introduced….and every piece of legislation that is passed, it is a representation of the game that has been successfully played. Whether the act is beneficial to the nation or not is irrelevant. It is simply the reflection of one man’s power growing, and another man feeling a sense of defeat.

Now the question arises…what is government and congress for anyhow? Our founding fathers completely despised the idea of a monarchy…where if a man wanted power, he could not have it unless he was part of a certain family. So they created a very idealistic system of checks and balances. Yet again, we are seeing how people can play the game with the system. If a president gets the right people in congress, he can pass bills that he wants. Also, if he has the right set of judges in the supreme court, he can make sure that the acts are passed into law and can withstand any challenges by disgruntled citizens or companies.

Fortunately, anyone can work themselves into this system in America. A common man can play the game and really make a big impact on the world. It’s just a matter of playing the right cards at the right time.