Ever wonder why politicians keep getting caught up in scandals? Does the entire country go around groping subordinates at parties and giving other people's money to their friends, and the only reason we don't hear about it is because they haven't been elected to anything?
No. Politics is different. For better or worse, the behavior of politicians is influenced by a unique and volatile combination of personal ambition and public accountability. It takes them places most of us will never go.
We're political opposition researchers. Our job is to find out everything there is to know about candidates for elected office, from congressional representatives down to local school boards. Campaigns hire us to dig up the dirt on their opponents, but also on their own candidates, so they'll know how they could be attacked. We get to see everyone naked, for better or worse. We wrote a book about it: "We're With Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics" [William Morrow Paperbacks, $15.99].
Sometimes we discover a potential bombshell; other times it's a minor, telling detail. The point of our research is to answer the question: "Do you really want this person to lead you?" We often find candidates who are in it for all the right reasons, for whom the answer is a resounding Yes. Then there are the others. To help you figure out who is who and what is what, we offer the following handy checklist of potential problem areas.
"Public employee union interviews five Dems for Walker recall"
http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/137523178.html
The Top 10 Lobbying Organizations, as ranked by dollars spent, so far in the 2011-2012 Session have been:
1. Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, 2,251 hours, $2,302,171
2. Wisconsin Education Association Council, 9,370 hours, $2,062,716
3. AFSCME Council 11, 3,306 hours, $1,228,811
4. AFSCME International, 10,631 hours, $694,422
5. AT&T Wisconsin, 4,167 hours, $439,745
6. Badger Advocates, Inc., 1,458 hours, $253,917
7. Wisconsin Medical Society, 1,851 hours, $253,770
8. Wisconsin Counties Association, 2,354 hours, $233,081
9. Wisconsin Automobile & Truck Dealers Association Inc., 1,470 hours, $227,729
10. Wisconsin Energy Corporation, 614 hours, $219,506
http://gab.wi.gov/node/2025
it's no surprise we end up buying the political equivalent of Chinese toothpaste.
And it is an impossibility for any one person to represent the needs and wants of 10 people let alone hundreds of thousands of people.
This system of violence and theft must be abolished. We do not need to be ruled by threats of violence, hundreds of thousands of laws all enforced with guns and a bunch of power craving, disturbed individuals who only crave power for themselves at the expense of peaceful people and start wars!
I don't like it any more than you do, but what do you suggest that the human race can accomplish in a short time until our lofty long-term goal can, hopefully some day, be reached?
What solutions have you?
And why is everyone always looking for someone else to provide them with solutions? How about we stop empowering those who crave power and empower ourselves? It's not like if the government stopped forcing people to educate kids that are force to attend that there would not be education. In fact, if the government stopped indoctrinating children people would actually seek out real education for their kids. People have always come together when needed. the problem is that they almost always seek someone to lead, be in power and do it for them.
Give someone power over you and that is all they will crave.
http://www.werewithnobody.com/2012/01/09/most-common-political-transgressions/
The media should spend much more of it's time trying to expose all sides of the candidate rather than:
a) one they feel is worthy or
b) one they were lobbied to feel as worthy (noting that you cant pay them as that most likely is illegal...but lobbying is still ok).