The Bad Side of Politics

Posted by Irfan

January 5, 2008

Politics is a concept that was both misunderstood and misconceived. Politics is a very broad concept that even the great minds of long ago, who established politics and made it work, had struggled somehow to find an exact and complete definition for it. Using simple words and a short description, politics is the process by which a group of people decides. It is most evident in the government but it can be applied to several other groups and bodies like private corporations, non-profit organizations, clubs, and similar entities.

So, when does politics become bad? It becomes bad when a certain group of people in power began using the authority bestowed upon them for their own personal gains. In a government setup, officials are elected to position not because of their popularity but because of the fact that many are expecting them to serve the nation and improve whatever it already have. The moment an elected official overlooks his responsibilities and start looking after his own welfare, whether openly or discreetly, is the same moment he becomes guilty of practicing bad politics.

It is rather hard to determine if a person would succumb to the bad side politics given its present state. There are a lot of good, straight persons changed by politics already. And it is a given that those people who were masquerading as tame sheep gets their beastly face showing just at the time they are securely holding onto their respective positions.

There are a lot of negative developments in the world today that can be attributed to bad politics. For one thing, Palestinian’s and Israeli’s unending wars are a direct result of bad politicking on both ends of the negotiation table. Spectators from different parts of the world could only perceive the war to be nothing but a struggle for absolute power. But it really isn’t that way once you look into the finer details of the issues at hand.

Even the simplest, ordinary act of passing and ratifying bills on the lower house to the senate is a massive breeding ground for bad politics. People who have definite interest in a certain bill under processing would lobby for it all day and all night just to let it through. The more politicking they do, the higher are the chances that the bill will be passed. If they don’t do anything and keep their mouths shut, chances are, the bill will be shelved for future considerations.

Not that all politics is bad. Of course, politics is conceptualized as something good and democratic before it was given a tarnished face by the same people who created it. Politics has an in surmountable power to change things. That is actually the main reason why a lot of people want to run for public office. Winning a position will give them the authority that could either make or break lives.

People in power have a big responsibility over their constituents. They are elected to an office because voters are confident that they would always do the right thing. But once that confidence is broken, it would be hard to ask people to bring it back again.

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