Politics is dirty. Politics is dirty. Yes. Politics is ruthless and not for the faint of heart. It is a game that drains your heart of any grace and soul. Instead, it fills him with rage and untold illness. That is precisely the point. Calm and pleasant colleagues hardly vote, angry and passionate ones do!
People often wonder why anyone in their right mind wants to be in politics in the first place. Sometimes I wonder about that too. Actually, as dirty as it sounds, a lot of good in history has been achieved through politics. Think about the end of slavery in Europe and America. Workers’ rights and compensation in the world’s major economies. Civil liberties or civil rights and the right to vote in developed democracies around the world. This is perhaps why, despite the inherent drool, I still find it fascinating to watch an endless loop of political shows – my wife can’t stand it!
Politicians can be trashed on a daily basis in the media, but they have a resilience that is fun to watch. Their poll numbers as a group are devastatingly bad — they could be heartbreaking in any other race if polling were similarly used as a performance metric — but that’s not reason enough to lower their individual ego or sense of self-confidence.
They enjoy listening to their own voice. Your own reasoning. Your own facts. Their own crowds and adulation. Everyone else in the country might see them differently, but does it matter? If only a regular Joe or Sally on the street had such a huge belief in what they can do; You can only imagine the impact it would have on his career or his community!
No matter how complicated the situation a politician finds himself in, he always has some explanation that rationalizes it. You may not agree with that, but the net result is that more often than not they get re-elected despite your disapproval. Somehow it must work for them. So why am I addicted to this game of egos? Because there are lessons we can all learn from the game that is politics:
- Not to be distracted from your goal. No matter the circumstance, speak affirmatively to yourself or to anyone who wants to listen. Then repeat it – again. So repeat it!
- Believe in your vision. Believe you can do it. Believe that nothing could stop you from achieving it. Nothing excites a politician like a formidable opponent. We too should view opposition as a catalyst that refines our belief, not a terminal condition for our goal.
- gather others to your vision or goal. Our forward propulsions depend directly on the fuel that others provide. Politicians know this and that is that they should never have your phone or email; They won’t leave you alone from then on!
These three elements are the reasons why year after year he has re-elected the leaders of his congress or senate in a body he hates so much. You may not like them as a group, but you end up liking the one you choose. Since they benefit by exercising these attributes from you, their employer; I think you should also benefit from your own employer if you represent him.