Politicians keep their word, sometimes. When he ran for mayor of New Smyrna Beach, Adam Barringer, elected in November, promised to have an economic development plan drafted within 100 days of office. He delivered on the 97th day.
The general public, though, sees politicians mostly in a negative way. This negative opinion is reflected in the remark by Sara Wells at the Touch of Italy restaurant when she told me: ”The politicians have all the say and we have none.”
How about these campaign promises? What happened to the "change we can believe in" slogan that Obama promised before his election in November? Or how about George H.W. Bush's pledge when he ran and got elected after promising, "Read my lips, no new taxes," followed by, you guessed it, a tax increase? He wasn't re-elected.
Politicians are seen as liars, cheaters, big tax and spenders and several other unsavory descriptions. The irony of this is that to a large extent it is the constituents that make them that way.
First of all, many of a politician’s supporters expect him or her to “bring home the bacon.” Failure to do so can result in quick “un-election”. For example, one thing that contributed to Republican Congressman Tom Feeney’s loss to Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, in November was his unwillingness to support feckless public spending bills for local constituents.
Bill Chappel, well known as a conservative Democrat once made a stirring speech in favor of freedom, self reliance and a strong national defense before an audience at former Mayor George Musson’s house on Quay Assisi. He then stunned some of us by saying that one of the main reasons we should vote for him was that he brought so much government funding into our area. Chappel won.
The upshot of all this is that while voters hate useless government spending they love the spending that is done in their district. The Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska may have been a national disgrace brought to prominence by Sarah Palin, but to the constituents of the area it was looked on as a great thing.
The same can be said of Boston ’s “Big Dig” project that cost taxpayers $16 billion nationwide. It was a national waste, but a local boon. A cynic would say that pork barrel spending is defined as a project outside of your district.
For this reason, those in favor of smaller government and smaller spending must get the Senate and House races focused on national rather than local issues. Otherwise, candidates good at bringing home the pork will have a great advantage.
Another trait that angers voters is that politicians are so wishy-washy about the issues. One cynical comment made about many politicians goes like this: “You have to admire the senator for his strong convictions, he stands firmly on every side of every issue."
Again, this is brought on by the fact that every time a politician takes a stand he alienates about one half of his constituents.
A really skilled politician can convince almost everyone in the audience that he is on their side of the issue, even when the audience is somewhat evenly divided on the issue. It was said of Bill Clinton that when you talked to him he would understand your side of the issue, would become completely convinced of the correctness of your point of view and promised he would act accordingly when the time arrived.
So when a politician is vague about an issue be careful about assuming he is on your side.
One really legitimate reason for hating politicians is in the area of taxation. As local accountant, Bill Feger, pointed out the tax laws are written by politicians and for politicians. They let the poor tax collectors be exposed to the anger of the public and the real dangers that go with that anger.
Taxpayers perceive taxes to be too high, unfair and too complicated. Meanwhile, it is the lawmakers who receive the benefits of the tax laws, which carry too high rates, are unfair and too complicated.
It is no secret that tax rates are made too high so that powerful constituents will come on bended knee to their politician for relief. Over 90% of the tax statutes are made up of special laws for special constituents to reduce their tax burdens. Some politician has benefited greatly from each special statute in the tax law.
There is nothing new about this type of behavior by voters and politicians. The Founding Fathers were well aware of how they would behave if given the chance. For this reason, the Constitution was written to minimize the taxing and spending problems we have now. Needless to say those constitutional safeguards have been pretty well demolished.
Today, about the only way to reduce this behavior is term limits. Human nature isn’t going to change. Voters are going to continue to want to rob their fellow citizens through the ballot box and politicians will continue to oblige them to stay in power.
By shortening the time a person is in office his ability to “game the system” will be reduced and his or her character will have less time to deteriorate.
Of course, in New Smyrna Beach, City Commissioners Lynne Plaskett, Jim Hathaway, Jack Grasty and Judy Reiker and Mayor Barringer found a way to extend their political lives without having to make promises they might not be able to keep when they recently voted unanimously to extend their own terms by a year to allow for even-year voting.