On-Topic When did politicians stop working for us?

[shainski]

Hey MisterB,

First, it is difficult to have a civil thread in CE&P. I generally refrain from posting twice in the same thread - because i don't have the time nor inclination to refute every point. I'd likely lose just because i would give up an argument. So I state a point of view - and leave it alone.

But I'm not sure that the vitriol was always part of our system. One only need to see an old movie, "Mister Smith goes to Washington" which came out in the 1930s (I think) - pre WWII. The main point of the movie is how a young man gets sent to Washington with high ideals - but mainly because those who sent him think he can be controlled. He has no political point-of-view - he doesn't really want to go, nor feel qualified to do so, so he learns under the Senior Senator from his state (some unspecified western state). Everyone is corrupt, but he doesn't see it. When he inadvertently veers into a sensitive area, he is nearly crushed by the system.

Now, the movie is fiction. But seeing that it was created in the 1930s, it did make fun of the politicians of the time.

I know that in my lifetime (and i am not a lot younger than you), the dialog wasn't as coarse as it is now, but the stabs were hidden behind a false decorum. Whether it was all the horrible things that occurred in the 1960s, The Eagleton episode, then Nixon, then Ford. Then shows like Saturday Night Live made a whole career out of ridiculing those in office. Then Ferraro and Bork, Dukakis and Quayle. Each one was made more fun of then the previous - and then Clinton and Bush. Everyone seems to up the ante on what was done before. (I'm sure i left out a lot of things - but that was just what came to mind as i was reminiscing for this question).

 

[Centexfarmer]

^ One of the many things that I personally love about your post is how effed up things were back in the 1930's with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

I think that it's worse now.

Except that Mr. Smith would have been first elected to a 2nd rate Congressional Seat, then when they saw how easily he could have been bought, might have paid his way into the U.S. Senate.

Or kicked his ass back down to "County Commissioner."

Both parties excluded/included in that process.

My Grandpa use to say, "America has the BEST DEMOCRACY that MONEY can buy."

Like Walmart is toward providing for their customers first, and their "shareholders" second, so are American Politicians.