Can you trust any politician?

Politicians say they want to build trust with the American people.

Can you believe them?

Can you believe what they say?

reply to post by Frankidealist35


You can trust them if you want. As to whether its beneficial to, I would give a thorough and resounding no. Even if I were to somehow forget American history, and ignore the fact that the banking elite controls all the influential people anyways, there would still be one simple fact: it costs hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to be elected to any position of "power" in this country. People do not just give you money to attain a position of "power" without expecting something in return. Even if they are giving you money because they believe in you, that means they expect you to do things in a certain specific way. Very few politicians receive a large number of their donations from every day working people, they are generally from lobbyists for different corporations and special interests.

Ron Paul would be the only politician I would trust, but that isn't trust in the way I consider truly important. I would trust Ron Paul to operate the way he has so far, which is upholding the constitution. When I say I trust someone it means I trust them with my life, and I wouldn't trust someone with my life I have never met. Thats what amazes me about some people in this country who have such a blind faith in these presidential candidates. They trust these people with their country, which they claim to love, and all they know of them is what their written speeches and canned responses say. That, to me, is dangerous.

Even without all of those other actors, I still pose this question. How many nations in the history of mankind have thrived as America once did that were not corrupt?

In a word....




NO



You can ALWAYS trust a politician TO LIE










[edit on 30-10-2008 by Alter-Ego]

I have an intense distrust of anyone who wants to be a career politician. There is just something wrong with someone who wants to be in a stressful job away from family just to gain power and get their pockets lined by special interest.

In an ideal world, government should be something a majority of people want to take a stab at for a couple of years to try to make a difference in their community and make their country better. After a quick stint, one would return to the private sector in a job that is not tied in too close to government through special interests.

The poster before mentioned Ron Paul and I think he is a step in the right direction for sure since he is honest and leaves politics from time to time to work as a doctor.

reply to post by Frankidealist35


My answer would be, once in a blue moon. The problem is that each and every politician is tainted or corrupted by our model of campaign finance. Essentially, every politician is forced to pander to the corporate interests in order to get elected. Personally, I feel that campaign finance is the root of all evils apparent in our political system. I mean, in our country, it is legal to corrupt or "lobby" a politician through political donation. In my opinion, we don't need to REFORM campaign finance, we need to ABOLISH it.

I would propose that all elections be funded by the corporate taxpayer. Today, corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year funding elections. The problem is that they get to buy influence with this funding. Under my system, the corporations would still, mostly fund each and every election, they just would not get the influence they once had. In the end, the corporations would actually spend less because they would not have to compete for influence.

Look at it this way, we just spent $700 billion on a bailout for wall street. Wouldn't it make sense to spend say, $1 billion a year on all the elections held across the country, thus ensuring that our politicians were not corrupted the first day they took office. This would instead ensure our politicians actually had to "pander" to the ones who elected them, the voters.

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
Politicians say they want to build trust with the American people.

Can you believe them?

Can you believe what they say?

No. Next question.