Do Politicians Have Your Best Interests in Mind?
It is no secret politicians favor minority groups. This can be seen in both the Democrat and Republican parties.
For instance, democrats favor environmentalists and republicans favor gun owners. This is not by mistake or happenstance. There is a good reason why they focus their time and energy catering towards these groups.
They are passionate voting blocks with money. Environmentalists and gun owners are very similar in the fact that they are very passionate about their niche and will spend a lot of money to support it.
Downside
By siding with these groups as a politician you gain a lot of upsides such as votes and money. With very little downside. Not many people are going to argue a stance that doesn’t affect them. In fact, many people vote based on what viewpoints affect them the most, not what is best for society as a whole. We are selfish voters, understandably.
That is the reason for so many minority viewpoints by candidates, not because they care about the little guy. Having a viewpoint that affects a minority of the population means that only a minority of the population would actually care about said viewpoint. Everyone else will either not care, or not affect the way they vote or donate in the election. There is just very little downside with a lot of upset for supporting minority-affected viewpoints.
It doesn’t stir up the pot like a controversial viewpoint that affects a majority of the population. A politician’s goal is to win the election, supporting a viewpoint that can upset a majority of people is not a great way to achieve that goal.
Supporting Beneficial Views
This is why viewpoints that would possibly benefit a large portion of society are never supported, there is too much risk involved. More people are affected by this bill therefore there are more people, in general, to disagree with the bill. There is more downside than upset for a candidate to support it, the candidates take the safe route and try not to step on anyone’s toes.
Similarly, laws in Congress pass about 30% of the time regardless of what percentage of the population supports it. It is because these laws passed are for those minority votes and money. Donations are given to candidates to help win and in return for winning the candidate will vote for a bill that helps the donor.
This means that if a candidate supports a minority group, for the reasons stated above, then in return this candidate “must” (otherwise won’t receive future donations from supporters) vote for their minority viewpoints. This means voting for unpopular bills and laws.
All About Elections
It’s all about getting elected and reelected. And elections cost money. Politicians support, vote, and say anything in order to gain those votes and donations; and a majority of the time they will support what the minority wants. Therefore a majority of the time politicians do NOT have your interest in mind, in fact, it is more likely the opposite.
So before you donate or support a candidate see what viewpoints they support and take a step back and think about, why. Or not, it is entirely rational to not care at all about elections and the viewpoints of the candidates or to even vote for that matter. Check out Is Voting Worth it? for more on that.