philibusters
Active Member
Is the current generation of Politicians effective?
Skepticism in the government is at an all time high. Further things like the debt are spiraling out of control. And it doesn't seem like the current generation of politicians is up to the task of fixing these problems.
On the other hand, while this generation of politicians may not be one to remember, I think they get bad rap. The public is a lot more skeptical regarding politicians than they were previously.
The public was always a little skeptical, but I do believe the changing technology, particularly cable news and ... The internet have made more information available that has increased skepticism more than what it used to be. So the first point is maybe things really are not worse than they used to be, only now we notice a lot more.
Second, a lot of the problems this generation of politicians is facing are long term problems not necessarily of recent creations. Lets look at the problems.
1. Spending: Is out of control, but entitlements are not new. Medicare/Medicaid and Social Secruity are not new things but go back 1,2, and 3 political generations. Welfare, which probably mainly consists of those items and a variety of smaller items, is probably no bigger than it was a generation ago, except the collective cost of those items is catching up for us. And though this will be unpopular, military spending is out of control... List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ... we spend 6 times on defense spending what the second place country does. If we cut other spending so that we had a balanced budget, military spending would consist of almost 40% of government expenditures. People want flat taxes of 10%. A flat tax of 10% probably could not even pay for our current military spending. Again though this goes back two generations to Truman and Cold War spending on military. Not created by the current generation.
2. Consumerism/Entitled Attitude of the Public: Consumerism can be a good or bad thing, but the public spends beyond on its means and the current Congress has a lot of pressure to try to maintain that lifestyle for the public. When people get their home foreclosed upon, often it is Congress's fault. The public's decadent attitude was not created by this generation of politicians. Young people don't want to major in engineering anymore they want to study the humanities. I am an attorney so I fall under that category myself. Everybody coming from the middle class wants a good lifestyle, but a lot of us almost expect it and think that we should be able to make good dollars and work 40 hours a week for example in a field that gives us career satisfaction. That may not be totally realistic, even if its admirable ambitions.
3. Globalism/Technology: Whether we were ready or not circa 1990 new technologies like the internet and improvements in communication came. That opened up business opportunities as things like outsourcing became more realistic from a business perspective. Cry like we want, business will gravitate towards cheaper labor, its part of the free market and unless the younger generations step up and become more productive other countries economies will grow much faster than ours. The politicians can't control technology, they can only respond. In order for society to prosper we need more engineers and scientist as mentioned above.
4. Bi-partisanship: Cable TV and the internet has made following politics like following a sporting team. It is us against them, you root hard for your team. It has not only changed how the public views politics, but changed the politicians themselves. The politicians are more extreme in my opinion because that is what their constituents want. Liberals don't want liberals to negotiate or concede points with conservatives and vice versa. But in my opinion policy is not at all like sports--it may be funnier to have winners and losers for the public, but if it results in bad policy we all lose. Again, this goes back to point three, new technologies changed some dynamics in my opinion beyond the control of this generation.
I don't know if this generation of politicians has been that good. Definitely do not think they are outstanding. But I don't think they are that bad. They try, but they are misguided. I am hoping there will be a backlash against partisanship as people realize that it makes our politicians LESS able to handle the pressing issues of the day, but I am only semi-hopeful. People seem to truly enjoy having a favorite party (whether its an actual party or a particular ideology) so if people are enjoying it, it is unlikely to change.
Skepticism in the government is at an all time high. Further things like the debt are spiraling out of control. And it doesn't seem like the current generation of politicians is up to the task of fixing these problems.
On the other hand, while this generation of politicians may not be one to remember, I think they get bad rap. The public is a lot more skeptical regarding politicians than they were previously.
The public was always a little skeptical, but I do believe the changing technology, particularly cable news and ... The internet have made more information available that has increased skepticism more than what it used to be. So the first point is maybe things really are not worse than they used to be, only now we notice a lot more.
Second, a lot of the problems this generation of politicians is facing are long term problems not necessarily of recent creations. Lets look at the problems.
1. Spending: Is out of control, but entitlements are not new. Medicare/Medicaid and Social Secruity are not new things but go back 1,2, and 3 political generations. Welfare, which probably mainly consists of those items and a variety of smaller items, is probably no bigger than it was a generation ago, except the collective cost of those items is catching up for us. And though this will be unpopular, military spending is out of control... List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ... we spend 6 times on defense spending what the second place country does. If we cut other spending so that we had a balanced budget, military spending would consist of almost 40% of government expenditures. People want flat taxes of 10%. A flat tax of 10% probably could not even pay for our current military spending. Again though this goes back two generations to Truman and Cold War spending on military. Not created by the current generation.
2. Consumerism/Entitled Attitude of the Public: Consumerism can be a good or bad thing, but the public spends beyond on its means and the current Congress has a lot of pressure to try to maintain that lifestyle for the public. When people get their home foreclosed upon, often it is Congress's fault. The public's decadent attitude was not created by this generation of politicians. Young people don't want to major in engineering anymore they want to study the humanities. I am an attorney so I fall under that category myself. Everybody coming from the middle class wants a good lifestyle, but a lot of us almost expect it and think that we should be able to make good dollars and work 40 hours a week for example in a field that gives us career satisfaction. That may not be totally realistic, even if its admirable ambitions.
3. Globalism/Technology: Whether we were ready or not circa 1990 new technologies like the internet and improvements in communication came. That opened up business opportunities as things like outsourcing became more realistic from a business perspective. Cry like we want, business will gravitate towards cheaper labor, its part of the free market and unless the younger generations step up and become more productive other countries economies will grow much faster than ours. The politicians can't control technology, they can only respond. In order for society to prosper we need more engineers and scientist as mentioned above.
4. Bi-partisanship: Cable TV and the internet has made following politics like following a sporting team. It is us against them, you root hard for your team. It has not only changed how the public views politics, but changed the politicians themselves. The politicians are more extreme in my opinion because that is what their constituents want. Liberals don't want liberals to negotiate or concede points with conservatives and vice versa. But in my opinion policy is not at all like sports--it may be funnier to have winners and losers for the public, but if it results in bad policy we all lose. Again, this goes back to point three, new technologies changed some dynamics in my opinion beyond the control of this generation.
I don't know if this generation of politicians has been that good. Definitely do not think they are outstanding. But I don't think they are that bad. They try, but they are misguided. I am hoping there will be a backlash against partisanship as people realize that it makes our politicians LESS able to handle the pressing issues of the day, but I am only semi-hopeful. People seem to truly enjoy having a favorite party (whether its an actual party or a particular ideology) so if people are enjoying it, it is unlikely to change.
