Politics, principle or power?

Philosophy Forums Society, Government, and Economics
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Is the practice of politics a matter of principle or power?

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Currently there is no direct reward for politicians to fight powerful interest groups in order to confer benefits on a public that is not even aware of the benefits or of who conferred them. Thus, the incentives for good management in the public interest are weak. In contrast, interest groups are organized by people with very strong gains to be made from governmental action. They provide politicians with campaign funds and campaign workers. In return they receive at least the “ear” of the politician and often gain support for their goals.

So, the politicians, I think ALL want to do “public good”, however the rewards are always given by interest groups and not by the public, who cannot analyze all of the information needed to make a rational decision. The exception is if the debate is highly debated in the media, like joining the EU. Therefore out of human nature and self interest the politicians submit to rewards and hence power.

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03.29.07.2082

Good question, but it would have been nice to read what you thought before making a reply… nonetheless…

I feel that politics is what it is, and as such it varies in degrees of principle depending on the system of government you apply it to. Politics does not always have to apply solely to government, after all… in retrospect, another word for politics is “strategy”. The politics of chess, for example… “Would it be prudent or imprudent to commit to a move that may or may not endanger or damage your king (the political image of your kingdom) some ten moves down the road?” Indeed… politics is about making decisions, but going back to what I said about politics “varying in degrees of principle” deserves a little more explanation.

Let’s take Louis XIV… the epitome of “absolute power”. When he was in control (completely), all decisions were made by him and no other (and those decisions were obeyed without question)! Thus, the process by which those decisions were made did not involve the volunteered suggestions of his cabinet members, but the “requested” suggestions. No one would dare offer an opinion unless it was asked upon them to give… or else. In this example, the degree of principle had diminished from the “free exchange” of ideas allowed in a more open forum of political discussion as we would see in a democracy.