Why is it so hard for politicans to do the right thing?

[journalist3072]

A real conversation I hope we can have here on DU....

Why is it so hard for politicians to do the right thing nowadays?

And another question for DUers: Do you think most politicans come to Washington with good intentions? That is to say, do you think most politicians arrive in DC intending to to the right thing by the American people, and then along the way, they get influenced by outside interests, etc.

OR....do you think most politicians come to DC never having intended to do the right thing anway? They are just coming to fulfill their own personal agenda.

[jgraz]

1. They ARE doing the right thing...almost always

Just not for us.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. I don't know for sure, but my suspicion is that they start out, early on,

with noble intentions (Democratic politicians, anyway - Republic politicians are likely damaged goods right from the start). I think that the machine/process that they go through as they work their way into higher political offices wears them down - impact by lobbyists, arm twisting, then the whole Washington insider thing - they get ruined.

And, I also think that power is probably a big deal to many politicians. And retention of power then becomes critical - even at the expense of the very things that, deep inside, they know (or at least would know, if they could dig that deep any more) are right.

Maybe my response is just an admission to the fact that I would make a horrible politican!

[stillcool]

3. I think many...

were born, and have never wandered outside that sphere. Their connections were established long before they ran for office. I have to think that theirs is a world I would not recognize...nor they mine. It's the only way I can rationalize so few human beings creating so much human misery.

[AndyTiedye]

4. The Ones Who Do Tend to Have their Airplanes Fall Out Of the Sky

[Selatius]

5. He who has the gold, makes the rules.

I hate to say it, but workers don't have money. Industrialists, they have shitloads of money. Your boss runs your life in America.