If Politicians’ Honesty Set the Standard for Others

If engineers were no more honest than the typical politician, all of the bridges would fall down.

If accountants were no more honest than the typical politician, every firm would go bankrupt.

If merchants were no more honest than the typical politician, Paris would not get fed; nor would any other city.

If preachers were no more honest than the typical politician, everyone who took their sermons to heart would go straight to hell.

If physicians were no more honest than the typical politician, all of the patients would die.

If carpenters were no more honest than the typical politician, every house would collapse.

If spouses were no more honest than the typical politician, every marriage would be on the rocks.

If used car dealers were no more honest than the typical politician, no one would risk buying a used car.

If electricians were no more honest than the typical politician, we would all be electrocuted.

If soldiers were no more honest than the typical politician, both sides would lose every battle.

And so forth.

So, the questions naturally arise: Why does anyone place any confidence in anything a politician says? Why does anyone expect anything but deception and predation from these dishonest reprobates? Why does anyone seek social improvement or economic salvation from the programs these ne’er-do-wells devise and implement? Why, indeed, do people continue to tolerate politics at all? (This last question presupposes, of course, that those who wish to use the political process to commit a de facto crime—that is, an act that, if committed privately, would be seen as plainly criminal—will be entirely in favor of politics because using the government as their agent-perpetrator offers a way to legalize their crimes. My question pertains to the noncriminal element of the population.)