After you're done reading, come back and appreciate this photo a second time
You know what I hate? You see, that’s an impossible question to answer because I hate a lot of things, but it keeps you interested so you pay attention to the rant that will inevitably follow the asking of that question.
So anyway, you know what I hate? I hate this annoying thing that all political candidates do where they pitch themselves as this outsider character. We get it, you’re appealing to the annoying fetish Americans have for the scrappy underdog. The thing is, there are so many reasons why this is so much bullshit.
The thing is, politics is a field above all others where experience and ability to play the game really matter. Doing something for a long time, that’s how you get good at it, no? Experience is absolutely important when it comes to good governance. Good governance requires skills such as the ability to compromise, moderation, and the ability to maintain a good attitude regardless of what goes on around you; skills that are often learned through experience.
A good politician needs the ability to work within the machine to get things done. He or she needs to know how to play the game is what I’m saying. If you cast yourself as an outsider, and do your best to alienate your fellow Congresspersons or Senators, then they will do their best to make you an outsider. Anyone who knows anything about how politics works knows that if the power players want to marginalize you, they will find a way to do so. Therefore, you have to play the game to make it anywhere.
I am not suggesting total acquiescence to a system that one may well find disagreeable, what I am suggesting is that instead of playing the whole outsider act, political candidates could and should work within the system to change the system and to accomplish their goals.
Candidates, instead of campaigning as an outsider who’s going to “shake things up down in Washington” or attacking their opponents for being “career politicians,” should campaign as someone who’s ready to go to Washington and make connections to get real change accomplished. You see, anyone can be enough of a jackass and get themselves exiled from a group. It takes someone with charisma, however, to bring people together for quality discussion and compromise. Discussion and compromise… isn’t that what good governance is about?
Too many politicians these days, especially on the Republican side, play the outsider card, fueling the already very strong anti-government sentiment. Let’s face it, many people hate the government. The outsider play allows a candidate to say “hey guys, I hate the government too.” Only, a candidate for government office shouldn’t buy into that garbage. If you hate the government, you have no place in it.
Essentially, this outsider garbage needs to end. Candidates need to be proud to say that they want to be involved in government, and proud to say they want to make government work. What they shouldn’t be proud of is hating the government and those in it enough to campaign on it.
