Do you think that United States politics has become a case of "The Blind Men and the Elephant"l?

I think politicians spend too much time running for re-election, and not enough time doing their job.

“Become?” It’s been that way for a while.

Our political system along with, our educational system, our university system, our health system, our… etc.

Great analogy!

I’ve been reading about Heidegger recently. He talked about how things would play out in the world when “means” become more important than “ends”. He said this would happen in an environment where competition became the driving force, rather than striving toward some positive goal.

Political parties still use the language of idealism, but in fact this only cloaks the fact that it is competition, pure and simple, that drives their actions. They work not so much to achieve a particular vision of well-being for the nation as to seize the reins of power from the other party. This is why paralyzing the government has become a legitimate tactic. This is why a party can champion a policy one year, then block it when the other party champions it the next year. In this world of competition, what counts is establishing a clear contrast. The “means”—saying whatever it takes to capture the most votes—becomes the big thing, and the “ends”—making government function to the benefit of the people—cease to matter.

Money plays too big a role in US politics. The whole system is corrupted by it and this may explain why the calibre of those seeking office is so poor. It is almost impossible to get anything done unless it meets with the approval of big business and special interest groups. Government is hamstrung, the voice of the people is not heard and the White House is no place any more for the idealistic.

It may indeed be that everyone things the elephant is something else, depending on what part of it they can perceive, but I don’t think there is a single person out there that knows what the elephant is really like. In fact, that is the way of the world. We each see our own little corner, and assume the rest of the world is somehow consistent with what we know. That may not be true.

So I don’t think anyone is in a decent position to criticize politicians. I don’t think we know what pressures they are under, nor what their motivations are, nor what the world looks like to them.

Sure there are many calculations made. Do we vote for the candidate we like best, or for the candidate who has the best chance of winning? And how do we know who has the best chance of winning, anyway?

Politicians’ conventional wisdom is to appear to the radical fringe in the primary, and then move as far to the center as possible during the general election. This is because the radicals are more likely to vote in the primaries, but there aren’t enough of them to elect you in a general election, where more people are likely to vote.

I think the voters have no clue as to the whole story, although we suspect much has gone bad. I don’t think the politicians know the whole story, either, although I bet they think they do.

I think this tale cautions us to always be aware that there is probably a lot we don’t know. The nature of reality is probably not what it appears to us.

What we should do about that, I don’t know. Maybe just ratchet back the rhetoric a little, knowing we’re probably going to look like fools in the morning?

I love the parable. I also agree with @wundayatta to the degree of looking at politicians and their jobs as the elephant. In keeping with politics, the parable just shows me that keeping things smaller, on the local scale is the way to go (back to). Even though things are best handled on the local level, people are always going to see and think differently. What I’m unable to accept is when people are proud of their ignorance and refuse to even try to understand or see something from another view.

There is a serious divide in the U.S. between conservative and progressive coupled with the decline of the manufacturing economy. Those on the right are upset, but they can’t quite figure out what they want, which is why the Republican polls are so volatile. Blue collar jobs are disappearing. Not having an education beyond high school is not worth much. Republican politicians appeal to these people with visions of the past, when women were kept barefoot and pregnant, when minorities were denied their rights and people could make a good salary mindlessly working on an assembly line. Those days are not coming back. It is just amazing how out of step conservatives have become. They are wrong about deficit spending, the need to tax the wealthy, the importance of green energy and the danger of global warming. They are having a last hurrah. Either they will come into power and be driven out by their failures or they will be ignored and fade quietly into history.

Wundayatta
“We each see our own little corner, and assume the rest of the world is somehow consistent with what we know. That may not be true.
So I don’t think anyone is in a decent position to criticize politicians. I don’t think we know what pressures they are under, nor what their motivations are, nor what the world looks like to them.”

But, indeed, this is is the problem as far as I see it. Politicians are supposed to be able to govern to ensure “the greater good” for the greatest number, aren’t they? How are they going to do that when all they are concerned about is representing thier own constituency? And yet, how can you blame them when their number one job is getting reelected? Yet, I do blame them. I think politics is a public service and a calling. I am idealistic enough to hope that those we elect to public office would adhere to the purpose stated here by John Adams:
“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.”

John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

How is this even a remote possiblity if the politicians cannot step outside of their own narrow viewpoints, partisan politics and special interests and “do the right thing”?

First of all, they need a vision of what the “right thing” is. Then they need to agree on how to acheive it most closely. There are some good people in politics. I believe this. Is it the system that is crushing them? Is it the money? Somehow I don’t think it’s defending deeply held convictions that prevents compromise and stymies progress. It’s needing to win the point at all costs.

It is power and control over people’s lives, @Earthgirl. Narcissism.

bkcunningham I know that to some politicians the appeal is in the power, but I am still idealistic enough to believe that there are some who really believe in public service. So in some way the system is broken. I wish I knew how it could be made better.

There are many that really believe in public service @Earthgirl. It is up to us to use our power of voting to keep them in check and remind them who the are serving.