This week's poll was suggested by jacob66. What is your view on today's politicians? Do you think it was ever different in the past?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Are we living in a simulation?
Choices:
It doesn't matter - votes: 1784 (45.6%)
No - votes: 908 (23.2%)
I don't know - votes: 510 (13%)
Yes - votes: 708 (18.1%)
There were 3910 total votes.
The poll ended: March 13th 2021

I'm not sure what to say to the 18% that said "Yes"...

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

Politicians are more self-interested. Not all but 99% of them.

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

I think the majority of politicians have an incredibly short-term outlook. It’s not always clear to what extent that’s them thinking about maintaining power and to what extent other factors are involved (like the fact that most are older, and won’t be personally affected by the consequences of their decisions 30 years down the road, so they just don’t think about them - I guess that’s also selfishness though). Many politicians are also corrupt, if not blatant dictators, and the degree of corruptness seems largely dependent on what they’re allowed to get away with. I doubt things have changed much over the years, but I like to think there was a time when voters in democracies at least tried to elect people better than themselves.

I do think that there are politicians who do care about the populace that elected them into office. However, those people are in the minority, they're ridiculed and slandered by both sides of the political aisle and the media, and they tend to have terrible political opinions. Oh, and one more thing, it almost feels like those "crusaders" have some sort of persecution complex about doing the damn job that they were elected to do.

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If I could I would've put party's interests or other interests . But it's definitely clear that (at least national level) all have a team behind them studying when and how they can do stuff that their public image doesn't fall to much ,in order to gain new voters without losing too many of their previous voters.

Meh, basically with that and other stuff in the mix it's too easy to fall in sophistry, unless we ourselves (or at least part of the citizenship) think actively(and in a constructive way ) about politics.

I don't really have much to add (but I've been commenting on most polls for the last year so why not continue). Obviously the "average" politician is more self-interested. I think people like Bernie and AOC really do care to effect change for the masses, but such people are few and far between--even Obama, as much as I liked him and thought he did a good job (not perfect, yes yes, drones in the middle east, I fucking know) as President, I think he cares a bit more about his legacy than about the whole citizenry of the US.

The last president who definitely, 100% cared more for others than himself was Jimmy Carter. He's still out there building houses for people in his 90s.

They always move on their self-interest. In my country, that "interest" is the investors, money, and more money. Lol. Even the politician a few years ago I thought was a grassroot person who genuinely cares for his people, turns out someone who again and again signed bills and policy which will put many people and the environment in disadvantage. They even ignored the sound of protests from the people in the street.

There's a saying in my country, the only time politicians listen for people's voice is when the general election, so they can get the throne.

I don't care enough about politics to think about this, but I just assume that they put themselves above people's interest mmm...

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I will change this world mmm...
So the world can change me mmm...

Ideally the interests of politicians and those of their constituents are aligned, at least in an ideal democracy. Now ideal democracies on the other hand...

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(ㆁωㆁ*)

So this poll is a bit to simplistic. Are there politicians who put people above themselves almost always? Yes. And sadly in most countries this is exclusively people on the left. (AOC or Bernie Sanders are good examples in the U.S.). There are also politicians who almost always put themselves before the people. These tend to be the people who have a "brand" that comes before all. People like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema who put being a moderate and being a deal maker above all else. It also includes people who embrace being a piece of shit like Ted Cruz or Mitch McConnell. Who KNOW what they do hurts people. But, and here is the big bootie Puerto Rican Goddess butt. Based on how psychology works, nearly everyone is the hero of their own story. This includes politicians. Many firmly believe what they do that benefits them ALSO benefits the people despite all the evidence it does not. They take bribes (excuse me "campaign contributions"😉 and help corporations because they view it as a "if I am not here someone worse is" and to stay in power they must be corrupted. They thing helping ensure U.S. hegemony is good for the U.S. people. They think spreading and keep the Military Industrial Complex happy is good because the MIC made sure they produced parts or tanks or supplies in EVERY state. And this if the MIC looses power, thousands of good paying U.S. jobs are at stake.

The TL;DR - Some pols almost always knowingly do what is good for the people. Some pols almost always knowingly do what is not good for the people. Most pols, due to how psychology works think what is good for the goose is good for the gander despite ample evidence it is not so despite being self interested, they think being self interested is good for the people.


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Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

Politicians are more self-interested.

To put it simply, that's just human nature in a sense. And most of the people can't get above it, even if they're leaders of masses.

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[img]https://i.imgur.com/ERg8slD.gif[/img
[img]https://i.imgur.com/HphHlPh.gif[/img]
Tv Tokyo - Anime & Manga ~ MinatoAce

The "people" is a meaningless concept to begin with, there's a variety of different interests within the populace. A politician may care about whichever group he perceives to support him.
And even that doesn't mean he'll actually do anything for them. Electoral support is nowhere as strong as financial support lol.

Lol @ the 5.1%. I'm sure they'll put their stimulus checks in in the stock market or bitcoin. I mean, there's no inflation if you can't see it, right? 🤣

I didn't see the point in responding to either of these, UNTILL I STARTED APPLYING FOR ANOTHER JOB AND BECAME ASTOUND AT HOW MUCH YOU PEOPLE ARE FUCKING WITH MY LIFE. First of all, to get all the formalities out of the way, you people are nothing more than retard shit-flinging gorillas for supporting Bernie "Bread lines are a good thing" Sanders after he took your 2016 campaign contributions, took the bribe from the DNC to bow down to Hillary, and bought a third house. Meanwhile the Angry Orange Conquistador, with tits so small and such a terrible personality that she couldn't get a real waitressing job at Hooters, made her political priorities absolutely clear when she actually agreed with Ted Cruz on a political matter of grave importance, and then backtracked on the issue because she couldn't be caught agreeing with the party that elected "Literally worse than Hitler".

But all of that is beside the point, right? No, it's not. To give a picture of the situation, I'm going to be unemployed two weeks from now. Why? Because the customers of the fabrication company that I work for have such a surplus on stock that they cannot justify buying further products from us (Partially because no one is able to buy their products for one reason or another); and, even if our customers were still ordering our products, we cannot make more products anyway because our suppliers lack the resources and crew needed to fulfill our orders of supplies. And, WHY is this happening? Two reasons. First is because the customers who eventually buy the final version of our product and the suppliers who provide the original resources for our supplies are deemed as "non-essential", so we're constantly buying and supplying a dwindling amount of supplies and resources. And, if anyone defy's the government's orders because (God forbid) they actually want to work, they're shut down by the police. And, do you want to know who are some of the biggest supports are for keeping things locked down? Bernie and AOC. But, like I said, that's only the first reason. The second reason is because of pumping so much money into the welfare state. I'm not kidding. In the U.S., if you're filing for unemployment, you get a $3000 check each month just for living, $1500 if you're actively looking for work. Breaking that down the government is paying the populace the equivalent of a $19/hour full-time position just to exist, and punishing those who are looking for work. And, majority of people are either looking for work but not getting hired (For the previously stated reasons, and what the following paragraph will be about) or not looking for work at all because why take the pay cut? With this influx in the unemployment population, benefits have to increase to keep this Ponzi Scheme a-going and account for inflation. And, some of the biggest supporters of it are, again, Bernie and AOC.

Now, some of you may be bring up the question of why don't I just look for another job if I know I'm going to be out of work? Well, aside from the previously stated reasons, that's what I have been doing, and I cannot get hired at majority of places because I do not have a college degree. Well, why don't I apply for a job that does not require degrees? BECAUSE IT IS AGAINST THE LAW! I'm not exaggerating. In the state I live in, employers are required, by law, to only hire people with degrees. You want to work in a call center? You need a degree in "Human Psychology". Do you want to work as a part-time substitute teacher? You need a degree in "Child Development"; no, you're previous experience doesn't count. Do you want to deliver packages and mail? You need a degree in "Shipping", and five years experience of "professional driving". Do you want to flip patties at the local Mickey D's? You need a degree in "Home Economics". Do you want to do the job of digging a hole or shoveling horse manure? You STILL need a degree in "Landscaping/Farming" AND a certification verifying that you know how to use a shovel. In other words, I am being required, by the government, to go to debt, in order to pay for a college education, just so that I can earn money in order to buy luxuries such as food and shelter. So, "clearly" the problem is that the American public needs a savior from all their student loans, and that savior is Bernie Sanders, who belongs to the same party that caused all these problems in the first place.

If you cannot read sarcasm, let me explain in layman's terms. The place I live in is Democrat controlled (Where 10% of the population rules over everyone else) in the city, county, and state governments. Said Democrat governments impose laws requiring companies to exclusively hire college graduates with specific degrees. If you do not possess said specific degrees, you cannot work; therefore, you are required to go to college. If you do not have the funds to finance this education (Because you cannot work in the first place) or you parent's didn't save enough money for you (Because they didn't account for 5% yearly inflation, nor students loans causing college tuition to skyrocket), that leaves the only recourse as taking out a student loan to pay for everything. So, you're taking out a loan (And promising to pay it back with money you are speculating you may possess in the future) to pay for an education (That you don't want nor should need) in order for you to be hired for a job (And that job alone). So, six years later, and hopelessly in debt to pay for your needless education in order to adhere to a regulation imposed upon the government, you're making bottom dollar at your "dream job", endlessly paying yesterday's bills, today, with money you will not see until tomorrow. Then, someone on the Democratic side, the same party that CAUSED this mess comes along and declares that they'll wipe away all your problems if you just vote for them.

Now, let's take a step back an analyze this. That party has not changed from the time that they started this spiral to the point that you're in now. It's composed of the same people, with the same principles, who talk about imposing the same laws and regulations they already WERE discussing back at the start. So, logically speaking, everything they're preaching is either a lie (In which case they don't care about you except when you vote) or the truth (In which case, they just tell you what you want to hear, but leave out the fine print on what that requires). Either way, it would be absolute insanity to continue voting for that party, but you still do because the other side is "too evil" and because you like hearing what the person is preaching. If effect, they've created a demagogue, and you are the slave.THAT'S Bernie Sanders. THAT'S AOC. That's been the Democratic platform since the dawn, to where their attitude hasn't changed when you can pull up LBJ's famous "I'll get them niggers voting Democrat for 200 years!"

Now, do not take this as a defense of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is split down two camps, both of which are idiots. On the one side, there's the Neo-Cons, who are literally disenfranchise Democrats, who worship Israel, care only about their financial backers, want America to rule with an iron fist as the world's police force, and will justify any war having to do with oil in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the other side is LOLbertarians who worship the Founding Fathers, want the U.S. to become completely isolationist except when other counties want to take part in our domestic affairs, reform the U.S.'s political and economic structure to be more European despite the point of America being to get away from European thinking, will absolutely leave every country that we have promised to defend (Like Japan, because of WWII treaties) completely defenseless and ignore all past agreements and treaties, and that Americans must be guilt tripped for absolutely having done something wrong towards any aggressor because they wouldn't have had any reason to attack us otherwise (And it will "always" be a military attack, never a cultural or economic attack).

The issue I have is that you people talk all day about being "morally righteous", bitching about the "state of the world" discussing about how you want to improve things, AND THEN ELECTING THE SAME PEOPLE INTO OFFICE WHO CAUSED ALL THOSE ISSUES IN THE FIRST PLACE. And, you are so damn prideful about the matter, and have so much hubris to support your fragile ego, that, when people come after you (For the problems YOU supported, voted for, and caused), you not only defend you position, you justify your reasonings as being all in favor of the "greater good", and write off ALL criticisms as coming EXCLUSIVELY from "Radical Right Wing Death Squads"/"Angry Goobergate I.N.C.E.L.s"/[Insert favorite synonym for "bigot"].

And, that's the kicker, isn't it? At the end of the day, you don't care. At all. About any of this. You're just going to dismiss this long-ass post as the ranting and ravings of a so-called "Angry white virgin male", ignore any valid points brought forth, and continue on with you activities of supporting causes that destroy other people's lives. Because, after all, none of this matters unless it directly effects you, doesn't it? THAT is the only point in time people are finally allowed to give a shit.

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Dam, you just insulted more almost half your country (I'm not even sure if your arguments go in favour of your cause),you should chill a bit and say what you think should be done not randomly put words in the mouths of others and then criticise them for those words.

As a mathematician I must say the easiest way to prove your point is saying why they care or giving of a politician that does care with similar ideas to yours
BTW: On national levels its quite difficult to find people that have never contradicted themselves(Showing their point is invalid doesn't prove yours). 🙁