Recently, I made an interesting statement that got onto some interesting things. I saw all these posters with females and minorities running for political office . . . and many seem to think that they have the answers to the problems of the country. Many, it seems, appear to think that they have some “special ability” or “special insight” into things. This, I suppose, makes them think that it makes them more qualified or better. I know that some actually think that they are “more qualified” because they are female or minority, as if that makes them “privy” to secret truths about things. But I think things are not going to be quite so easy for them as they are going to find that their answers aren’t going to solve things as easily as they think. I then began to say that I don’t think many people really know what it’s like to be in authority and the qualities that it creates . . .
Some qualities seen in being in a position of authority
I’ve often said that there are some qualities that happen when one is in a position of authority. I speak, in particular, of political authority but it can really include any form of social authority. Many people seem to think that it’s an easy clear-cut thing to be in authority, particularly political authority. But, I think, they will find otherwise. What they will most like discover are things that include:
- What it’s like to be blamed for everything. You will be blamed for things you have nothing to do with and problems that have nothing to do with you. If there’s a problem, it’s your fault.
- What it’s like to have every statement you say dissected apart. People will take your statements and pick them apart. They will start to see things in them that weren’t intended or meant.
- To have words put in your mouth that aren’t true. People will start to say you said things you didn’t. You better watch out what you say!
- To have intentions put in your actions that aren’t there. People will see things in what you do that were not intended. You better watch what you do!
- To always have someone oppose everything you say or do. No matter what you do someone will go against it.
- To have a philosophy created that paints you out as bad and sinister. They may start to come up with whole points of views, conspiracy theories, etc. that make you out as some horribly bad person.
- To watch things twisted and warped in such a way that you are made out as being at fault. You will watch people take simple things and turn them into something bad and simple.
- To watch things get out of control, develop a life of its own, and then you are blamed for it . . . even though you have nothing to do with it. You can sit back and watch a whole drama unfold before your eyes, such as a riots or protests, and watch it get out of control. And then you can watch everyone blame you for it.
- To find that what you think is the answer actually doesn’t work. You may have a solution that makes complete sense to you and seems correct, and many people will even see it that way. But when you implement it, you find that it doesn’t work. And, what’s worse, you may not have any idea why.
- To find out that what you think is the answer ends up causing problems you didn’t expect. You may get surprised when you find that the solution that you think will work ends up causing problems. In fact, these problems may even be worse than the problem you’re trying to solve.
- To find that what you think is a solution actually ends up hurting people. You may find that the solution you thought would work actually causes problems for people.
- To find that many people disagree with you. No matter what you do there will be someone who disagrees.
- To find out what it means to play “King of the mountain”. If you are in power, then there are often people that are always trying to knock you off and become “King of the mountain”.
- To find out that you don’t have the answer. Sometimes, one may have to accept that one doesn’t have the answer to problems.
- To find that there is no solution. At other times, one has to accept that there is no solution to some problems.
These qualities are really seen, at least in some form, in practically any position of authority such as being a parent or being a Governor of a state. It seems more pronounced though, when these conditions exist:
- It involves many people
- It involves the administration of those people (such as politics)
I sometimes wonder if many people should be put in positions of authority to find these things out. I think people would have more respect for things like the political situation and the dilemma of people in positions of authority and wouldn’t be so easy to disagree or have bad feelings. I also think people wouldn’t be so quick to think their solution is the only one or the best.
Effects
The effects of these qualities, it seems to me, have greatly affected the behavior of people in politics. It does things such as:
- What they end up doing while in office (for example, it will actually make many people in power not do anything or become apathetic)
- If they continue to remain in politics (for example, it will cause many people to leave politics after their time is up)
Not only that, in general, these qualities tend to have a negative effect. They tend to do things such as:
- It slows things down, even bringing things to a halt
- It creates unnecessary conflicts and disputes
- It can cause things to go in weird directions
- It causes much waste and unproductivity
These effects can cause great frustration and anger in some people as well as disappointment. This can destroy the meaning of being in authority for some people. As a result, these qualities often take away the dignity, honor, and pride of political authority. I have even said, “there is no dignity in being in authority anymore”.
Motivation and knowing the qualities
It seems, to me, that the awareness of these qualities greatly influences why people go into politics and what motivates them. If often seems to follow this pattern:
- If they don’t know the qualities, then high principles or beliefs are prevalent as a motivation. They have these “high dreams” which can be fantasy-like in quality. They can even have these grand ideas of civic duty, responsibility, and such. The problem is that the qualities described above tends to frustrate these intentions and prevent them from materializing while they are in office. This frustration in satisfying these high principles or beliefs often tends to make them not want to stay in politics and they will often quit once their time is over. But it can also lead to the next form . . .
- If they know the qualities, then personal gain is prevalent as a motivation. Knowing what the qualities do makes people aware that things aren’t going to be the way they think. As a result, there is a tendency to be motivated by some form of gain, particularly monetary gain, but it could also be status or importance. This often leads to corruption. Sometimes, people will cater to corruption as a form of “re-compensation for all the crap” that these qualities create.
What we see, then, are these things:
- The frustration caused by the qualities tend to destroy or undermine any high principles or beliefs that some people have
- It seems is that the qualities tend to cause a natural tendency to corruption in politics
But some people are not willing to be corrupted, for various reasons, or are not in a position to be corrupted. They tend to do these things:
- They become a cog in the political machine. They do what is necessary to do their jobs. They just follow along in the humdrum of the political machine.
- They go into something like an apathy. Basically, they don’t really do anything spectacular or significant.
So, what we see is that these qualities seem to dramatically effect political authority:
- It effects how politics actually works
- It effects how the people in authority behave and work
- It effects how the people in authority view themselves
Overall, the qualities tend to impair everything, or so it seems to me.
People who don’t know the qualities . . . and their naivety
Most people are not aware of the qualities, or so it seems to me. They are as if these naive people who don’t realize what’s going on. As a result, they look at things simply and almost in a childlike way. This naivety shows in a number of ways:
- Many seem to think that they have the answers and are going to “solve” the problems.
- Many tend to have these “high ideals” and “dreams” which are often fantasy-like.
- Many of them are so simplistic that they think something as simple as a law or policy is going to solve the problems.
It seems, to me, that much of politics, nowadays, is being done by these naive people with their simple idealistic explanations and solutions. Many of the people who are running for office seem to be of this sort. In this way, politics is not being filled by people with experience, and understand the situation, but by naive idealistic people who think they have the solution. Many of these people, I’ve found, are females or minorities. I think, though, that we could add another group . . . liberal white males . . . as they seem to be as bad. It seems that many of these naive idealistic people are liberal-minded. But they will find what the people before them have found: they do not have the solution, things aren’t as simple as they appear, and they are not the saviors. It may take a while for them to realize that though.
People who know the qualities . . . and what they see
The above qualities are realities that people in authority tend to deal with all the time. I’ve heard these things mentioned all my life . . . but only by white males. This probably isn’t surprising as they have been in a position of authority and getting the blunt of all this since this country began. I’ve heard no one else mention these conditions. This is probably because no one else, really, has the experience to see these things.
But this experience has had a negative effects:
- It’s because of these conditions that I’ve heard many white males say they don’t want to be in politics, or great position of power, and that a person would have to be crazy to go into it. One guy said that “a person who goes into politics is a glutton for punishment”. Another guy said, “politics is a thankless job”. I even think that white males, as a group, have lost interest in politics because of these qualities. As a result, they don’t want to go into it anymore. Basically, an awareness of these qualities does not inspire people to go into politics.
- It has also created very negative views about politics and politicians. Overall, the qualities have created a great contempt toward politics and people in authority.
- It has also created a questioning about the functioning of the government. Knowing these qualities makes many people wonder how the government can remain functioning. I’ve heard a number of people say, “it’s amazing that the government works at all”.
Because of the problems these qualities cause there have even become many jokes about going into politics (again, this only comes from white males). For example, not only me, but others, have jokingly said that the President of the US should be a form of punishment . . . a person is “sentenced” to 4 years in office! There you will be blamed for everything, and you will find that nothing you do does anything or has effects that you never thought would happen. I’ve even heard people jokingly say that to be in politics is to be a “punching bag” meaning that you would be blamed for everything and would be the blunt of all bad feelings.
The nature of problems
What all this shows is that certain conditions always exist in a society. In general, it shows that problems are not an “easy fix” or even an “easy explanation” but are more complicated than it may seem. Some of the qualities of problems, that make it so complicated, include:
- That problems are inherent in society. It seems that there are no such things as a society without problems.
- That regardless of what you do problems never seem to go away. Because problems are inherent in society they never go away.
- That many solutions may solve a problem in one way but often ends up causing problems in another way. It seems that when one problem is solved another pops up somewhere else.
- That a solution to a problem often lasts a short time. In many cases, solutions tend to be short lived as they are often replaced by new problems.
- That a solution to a problem sometimes becomes a new problem. There are cases where the solution, itself, ends up becoming a problem.
- That ideas of a solution are often short-sighted, inadequate, and don’t encompass the entirety of the situation. One of the problems with the ideas of a solution is that they are limited in scope.
- That you can’t make everyone happy. No matter what you do you can’t please everyone. This means, of course, that even solutions don’t please everyone. A solution may please some people but not everyone.
- That people need a “target” for their frustration and anger about problems. People naturally tend to want to vent their frustration and anger and try to find someone to put it on. The people in authority are often the perfect target.
- That some solutions often become a means of abuse for some people as it gives them new opportunities to exploit things. Since many solutions are new it becomes a new medium of exploitation that some people can use. This, generally, causes another set of problems.
The inevitable result of these are:
- That problems always exist in some form
- That people are almost always unhappy because of them
- That there is no “cure-all”, answer, or solution that will get rid of them
It seems that people in a position of authority are the only people who can really see these facts . . . and I think only a small number actually see it. This is probably because they are too busy dealing with the problems.
The dilemma of solutions
Often, many of the “solutions” in life have nothing to do with authority or politics, and what it can do, but originates from other things and sources. Sometimes solutions come from unexpected sources and in unexpected ways:
- Many solutions are not predictable. In other words, you can’t say “this will solve that” and expect it to always work. This means that a solution cannot work as a solution implies predictability.
- In some cases, solutions just appear, as if from nowhere. We did not see them coming or even suspected there would be one.
- Sometimes the best solution is something like an attitude, such as an endurance, toleration, or acceptance. I’ve always thought that this is how many problems are actually “solved” in life.
- Some things become a solution and we have no idea why. We often only realize they are solutions on hindsight.
- Sometimes the best solution is to do nothing. There are cases where the best thing to do is to not try to solve anything but “let it run its course”.
What this shows is that many solutions transcend authority and especially political authority. Despite this, many people are expecting political authority to solve problems. This puts a strain on authority . . . it forces it to try to solve something it can’t. I would venture to say that the reason why the qualities even exist is because people are expecting too much from political authority. The qualities are really demonstrations of the failure of political authority to solve many problems. It shows that, in many ways, to rely on political authority to solve many problems is like expecting a vitamin pill to cure all illnesses.
The dilemma of political authority
People keep looking to authority to solve problems. They always have, like a child looking up to a parent. The dilemma is that, in reality, political authority doesn’t have the power to solve many problems. What this shows is that politics is very limited in dealing with many problems. Its limited in a number of ways:
- In its power. Contrary to what many people may think politics only has so much power, and only has power under certain conditions, and over certain things. It does not have any great all-encompassing power over everything.
- In its ability and means. Politics is very restrictive in its how it does things. As a result, it is restrictive in its ability to do things.
- In its conceptions of problems and their solutions. Politics is a narrow way of looking at things. As a result, it looks at things in a narrow way. Because of this, its views of problems and its solutions is narrow. The result of this is that it doesn’t take into consideration many other factors. This is one reason why many of their solutions don’t work effectively.
These makes political authority not quite as powerful as many people think. From what I have seen I’d be inclined to say that politics tends to be overrated as a solution to problems. As I always say, “there is no magic wand”. There is no solving many problems, or so it seems to me. It can only solve some problems. As a result of this asking politics to solve many problems is a dead-end road. Many of the qualities are a testament to that fact.
Copyright by Mike Michelsen
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