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What (not) to expect from a politician

 

The photo has no real significance to the subject being discussed :-)

Off late, I have seen a lot of my friends venting their anguish against politicians. Many of them expected the politicians to behave more responsibly, discipline the public on dos & don'ts of COVID precautions, get national priorities right and basically change the society to which they belong and are elected representatives.

I think this bunch has wrong expectations from the wrong group of people. Here is why -

A politician's entire existence is centred around election victory. Winning an election is their Key Performance Indicator (KPI). A consistently losing politician who is not making any effort to come to power, is not even a politician. Acceptance from society, popularity and majoritarian view are the fundamental characteristics of a politician. They have to operate within the limits of these fundamentals to maintain their existence. Isn't that why we always refer to successful politicians as someone who 'knows the pulse of their people'? 

If we don't like what the politicians are doing, that means there is something fundamentally wrong with the society - at least the majority of it that these politicians care about. To expect the politicians will show mirror to the society & it's people, highlight their shortcomings, false beliefs is utopian. For a politician focussed on getting elected, going to a voter (or a group of it) and telling them that they are wrong, is a recipe for disaster.

To do that, you need an activist. Someone who will call a spade a spade. Someone, who will tell the world if there is something wrong - even at the cost of unpopular. In fact, being righteous is the KPI of an activist, not being popular. An activist will always tell the world what they may not want to hear. As activists work tirelessly to educate the society about right & wrong, eventually (sometimes) the majority swings in their favour. They start gathering crowds and form a popular opinion. At this point, they can chose to become politicians and get elected OR let a politician take advantage of the majoritarian view.

I hope with this, we have clear expectations from individuals based on their KPIs and stop whining.  


PS: a politician may pretend to be an activist but not the other way round. 

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