Those in politics overrate their importance

We all tend to have an exaggerated sense of our own importance and the importance of the things that we are doing - witness our behavior when we are running out the door as if the thirty seconds that we save by not picking up the newspaper out of the driveway (or something else) is going to be the crucial factor in whether or not we are on time to where we are going. In politics - like all professions, and indeed there are self-important people in any profession - oftentimes this is magnified to where politicians (and parties) think that what they are doing every single moment is what everyone is focused on. It means that politics becomes as much about maneuver as about getting things done and ironically demonstrates a failure to understand how to be politically successful.

In early January thousands of people crossed the river into work in Washington DC, not thinking for a minute that it would be the first day of the new congress - they had to earn a living and don't know what's going on. In short, they don't really care about this or that amendment or vote, or about the procedures for going about said vote. They also have a greater sense of the absurd debate that switches around depending on who is in the majority. They don't have any sympathy for Republicans complaining about being excluded because they recognize that the Republicans would do the same thing if they were in the majority. They are also deeply sceptical about promises - however genuine - to "change the tone of politics" or some variation of that theme because no one ever delivers on it. They may genuinely intend to change things but its naive for any politician to think that things are going to be different when they are in the majority.

There is actually room here for someone to bring about genuine change - the present-day flaws of politics are only as permanent as we choose to make them - but no one seems willing to step in and fill that gap. Someone needs to help create new electoral incentives if our political system is to change for the better.