POLITICIANS, SCANDALS AND WASTE

Today's Woolwich Observer carrys this Opinion piece by Steve Kannon "Scandals and waste will continue as long as politicians make the rules". Fair warning to readers this is a very depressing Opinion piece by Steve. A few quotes will give you the idea: politicians are "...happy with a self-serving system that allows unfettered access to the cookie jar for themselves and their financial backers.". Further "Politicians write the rules for themselves. They prefer no rules, but failing that they draft vague rules with no enforcement, then there are no penalties for breaking the rules." Last quote "Getting politicians to do things for Canadain citizens -as opposed to their frineds and donors-appears impossible. Getting them to behave honestly and ethically is just beyond the pale.".

Personally I've long wondered how any honest people with ethics, once elected, can stand the nonsense they see all around them. Do some of them naively believe that if they hang around long enough they can be an influence for good upon the rest? Is it really as truly awful as Steve Kannon seems to be saying or are there significant numbers of politicians who started with the public interest in mind and have stayed with it? Once again read Steve's Opinion piece. Perhaps more people than I realized share Steve's view and that is why Canadaian apathy is so high. How do you become engaged in a process if you believe that it is fundamentally flawed if not corrupt?