Simple enough question – where are their priorities?

Themselves financially, their party after that and then for the good of the country and people they serve if they can be assed IMO 😉

usually I would say that they are motivated purely by winning votes to stay in power for long-term lining of their own pockets.. and so they run around in ever decreasing circles.. with a complete lack of integrity.. performing u-turns and w-turns in a desperate effort to leap through hoops and perform the tricks that they mistakenly believe the voters desire..

interestingly.. this present lot seem to have some gumption and are making decisions that are unpopular but may possibly have a positive long-term effect for at least one member of the public somewhere down the line..

weird shizzle

It’s all smoke and mirrors

Personal gain is almost always put first – power, social climbing, long term financial gain. I think it is more so now we have career politicians instead of people who have actually held down real jobs for a decade or so.

Some of this leads to sucking up to other people who can provide the above or who will return favours after the political career (see how many ex politicians seem to instantly walk in to high paid jobs)or who will provide campaign money or other perks now.

They will follow their party as they need that support to get elected and cannot afford to offend the party or party doners.

Very few of them seem to understand they are there to represent the democratic views of the people who actually employ them to present those views. The forest sell off and the unpopularity of the Iraq war are perfect examples of majority feeling of the general public getting no representation whatsoever by those employed by them to do so.

Politicians are not accountable enough to the population they represent, its too easy for them to vote against the majority will of their constituents over large individual issues and pay no penalty for it.

It#s pretty clear that currently politics is in a pretty bad state, the majority of mp’s come from backgrounds that mean that they just don’t understand the “normal” lives lived by most people. They aren’t just self serving but narcissistic in their arrogance.
I would say that those currently at the core of the parties are motivated by personal power and wealth, then a good chunk may have started with good intentions but fall in line due to the reasons given above. I think there are mp’s who actually do have the real interests of the country first, but once that becomes clear they don’t stand a chance, the media will destroy them.

Midnighthour – summed up the illusion of democracy that we live under pretty well, they do enough to keep the right people happy(which isn’t the general populace), bit like me when i was at school, did enough to get my higher maths, but ye’d hardly give me a job as a mathematician.

Politicians do the right thing by their sponsors – the big corporate lobbyists.

Why do you think we get so many laws that oppress the common man?

I believe that there are still some politicians driven by ideals rather than financial gain. e.g. Alex Salmond

apparently Cromwell (Oliver), left parliament with less money than when he entered, I’d say it was likely he was the last one to do so….

The following is pretty much exact fact:
– doorbell, dring, dring
– me, hallo
– him, I’m canvassing on behalf of the Liberal Democrats and I’d like
– me, sorry, can I stop you there, in a nutshell I think the one thing this country needs is less self serving politicians
– him (*and this is EXACT, so sorry Mods but this really is what he said) Piss off you f***k..g c..t and walked away.
me – went, got a pair of shoes and waited for him to finish talking to next door, accosted hime (politely and without violence) and pointed out that I felt his language was inappropriate and that with an attitude lke that towards people I failed to see how he could expect anybody to respect politicians.
– him – apologised for the langauge but he worked (something like) damn hard for lots of ungrateful people like me and he didn’t value my opionion – I really don’t think he understood the offensiveness of what he was saying (and it’s not the wearing that offended me), I think his attitude of not hearing what he was being told was truly and indicator of the relationship of politics to reality.

My suggestion is don’t vote atall, it’s gong to be truly squirmworthy if the turnout drops to the small numbers……

the majority of mp’s come from backgrounds that mean that they just don’t understand the “normal” lives lived by most people

i liked it when one was challnege don this and he responded by saying he was a man of the people in Latin.

best for the country – yes the very best try to do this

their party- sadly almost all of them do this. I remebering seeing Simon hughes[??] lib dem deputy hand wringing about what to do on the tuition fee vote as he had been implored by his local party to vote against it ..after all it was what he was elected on so he abstained. Sadly they almost all do this as obeying the party line is the only way to power/promotion

or themselves- the very worst do this and there aremany of them willing to take a fast buck

OK, here’s another one for you – Gerry Adams.

themselves…………..tories moreso.

The higher up they get, the more self-centred and more distant from the electorate they become.

I believe that there are still some politicians driven by ideals rather than financial gain. e.g. Alex Salmond

i agree but ultimately the few of them are pissing against the wind…a proper shake up of our democracy is required to give the people more say i reckon..

Where would Tommy Sheridan fit in with this?

Where would Tommy Sheridan fit in with this?

As a tool used to split the left just as it was gathering a bit of cohesion in scotland.

is he not all three?
Done good stuff for Scotlan re that bill, formed the party , suspect he is not a poor “socialist”

No, look at Tony Blair 🙄

The greedy muppet milked this country dry and if he was a decent person, the profit and deal he made with his book about life last year, he should give it back to the wounded soliders to give them a better life aleast, it was him that wanting to go ahead with the war and sending our troops there.

I believe that there are still some politicians driven by ideals rather than financial gain. e.g. Alex Salmond

Unfortunately they aren’t the ‘ideals’ most people would align too… nor that we (the taxpayer) can afford.

50% of mp’s never ever vote against their party and the rest of them hardly ever do.

My MP is well within the ‘0% rebel votes’ list: I can’t decide whether has no balls or whether the needs of our constituency have always coincided exactly with the opinions and interests of his political party.