Since Donald Trump has been back in office, energy prices have increased at more than double the rate of inflation. The Consumer Price Index from the end of October reported an “all items price index” increase for food, shelter, and transportation of 3.0 percent over a 12-month period, while energy ...
“Now, there’s one thing you might have noticed I don’t complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders." -George Carlin
Valid points, with love to George. But there’s a bit missing from that pithy take. The reasons you don’t see enough “good politicians” are the same systemic reasons we say “all cops are bastards”.
The carrots and sticks in the system are all lined up to weed out a certain kind of person, and to give another kind as much help as they need. The carrots I’m thinking of are campaign finance and the sticks are corporate media.
The American political system loves people who are cynical mercenaries, vituperative demogoues, or any alloy of those traits flexible enough to find a lasting niche. The exceptions prove the rule, to my mind.