“Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.”
Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, musician,
and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson
Certainly this quote is true with respect to the current President of the United States. But do you feel it holds true in general?
Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.
This, That, and the Other 
When I loose all of my self respect, I may think about becoming a politician.
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I don’t think you’re narcissistic enough to succeed in politics.
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Mostly. Maybe there are some exceptions but nothing comes to the mind at the moment.
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I do feel that it holds true in general
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So do I.
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No I think politics is nothing without preparation
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It seems to me people, at least who got to higher positions, knew something most of the time in my life. For instance George H.W. Bush had a few positions before being vice president before being president. And, before that, he was in WWII. And he went to a good school before that and college later. Sometimes I fear at least in politics his was “the greatest generation” — except, no. I don’t believe that, because while he did a lot of good things he also did things I think are ruining us. But was there a greatest generation? Was Eisenhower the same generation? He was pretty good. He said some brave things late in life, too.
But it takes way more than a president to keep things in order. And the question is about politics in general… and, come to think of it, not only about office holders of even only people who run for office. What about the people who make a profession of it just stirring up shit or trying to take over from the sidelines?
And what about the fact that our system means people who don’t make it a profession have a voice? That’s pretty much the point of our system. Maybe.
Anyway, who WOULD have “preparation” – – princes and princesses?
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I think Obama was prepared, even though people made fun of him having been a community organizer. I think it means a lot that he was a community organizer.
And I don’t think law school or church hurt either.
Church didn’t hurt Jimmy Carter.
(Don’t know if he went to law school.)
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Church DOES hurt a lot of people.
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Can you provide two examples?
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I’ll give you two groupings rather than two individuals. The women and girls (and actually young men/boys who were chased out) at the prophet “latter day” compounds (sorry — don’t know the exact nomenclature); one. Many people in the Catholic church; two. Now, I’ve only given those as examples — because you asked. Less obviously extreme, but terrible in my eyes, is the false teaching in many churches about wealth and favor.
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I agree to a point. I wish I was qualified to debate this. Thanks for responding.
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You’re welcome. Also, to reflect the balance (or conflicted feelings/thoughts) kind of inherent for me, I think church can be good for people. My dad was Catholic (and he was a very good person), and I went to Lutheran schools for six years (which I appreciate).
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Yes, sometimes church folks can be narrow minded….
I had serious reservations about a North Texas church – too much glitter, a live band, videos, and not enough of what took me there . However, I was only one of 1,200. And I was a visitor. Maybe it was just me. Who was I to judge?
An illuminated sign on the back wall reminded folks to turn off their cell phones. One Sunday morning I forgot to obey the words. Being an old man with bad ears meant my ringer was LOUD. The preacher was partway through his pitch when someone rang my number. Unfortunately, the phone was in my trouser pocket. Only two of us were standing when it finally stopped ringing.
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Oh my. I haven’t seen a turn off cell phones light in a church yet. I have, though, seen live bands, glitter, and… so on. Not where I would stay either. I hesitate: What do you mean, there were only two standing?
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A congregation of 1200. The preacher and I were the only ones standing. I made a spectacle of myself.
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Oh, I’m sorry. I hope it wasn’t too painful an experience.
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I guess I think of preparation as knowledge and experience. And in politics, that means perhaps starting at the local level and gaining experience working for constituents. It doesn’t mean being an actor, a reality show host, or a crummy real estate mogul.
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Well, yes, that’s for sure. It’s pathetic that so many people were harping on being a businessperson to qualify for politics before Trump, ripening the ranks not to question.
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I think you either have to be prepared or willing to learn and surround yourself with people giving you unbiased and expert advice. Current White House occupant does none of those things.
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The Oval Office is a poor place for on-the-job-training.
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Very poor.
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Seeing the accomplishments of Bush during this last week, I have more respect for him. All previous presidents are way above anything Trumo could even try to aspire to.
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I agree. I think he was a very good president. Whatever things he did that I think are mistakes maybe weren’t obviously so at the time and are things people could observe over time and figure out — that we need to turn around or moderate or something.
(And his supposed big mistake probably was not in fact a bad decision.)
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Oh, drats. I heard a review, this morning, of some serious things he did wrong.
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I think all that’s needed is an opinion.
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As Mark Twain said: “Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress..but I repeat myself” :O) x
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Like everything, it depends. A very local position might not need any political preparation – passion and knowledge of one particular issue might suffice. You can learn the rest on the job, maybe even move up to higher office if you keep learning. But then you would be prepared. I don’t think one has to be a lawyer to be a governor but with the complexity of our laws it does help to have knowledge of law and business and finance and even engineering to run a state well. Not to mention being an effective communicator and a decent person. As far as the Prez, the argument that we should overlook Trump’s tweets and home life even tho we are supposed to microscopically dissect everything about his rivals, and focus on his “business sense” – well ha ha ha ha. Wtf? What business sense? He’s one business disaster after another! My 401k is crying.
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For the most part, I agree. I only wish that they would pass a psychological first.
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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
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