Politicians are not the problem. They are a symptom of a much deeper problem.

Politicians are not the problem. They are a symptom of a much deeper problem.

We all, no matter our political affiliation or lack thereof tend to gripe about how dishonest and corrupt politicians are. Yet it is we the people who allow this. Today we have Republicans defending a Republican President that has done things that if a Democrat did they would lambaste him for it. Then we have Democrats that from day one have been desperately trying to find dirt on a Republican President yet if the President were Democrat then they would scream bloody murder and call it a partisan witch hunt.

We have leaders who have been corrupted by power and will do anything to hold onto that power meaning they place their own political future over the best interests of the country they supposedly serve. We have political parties that will do anything including using underhanded tactics to further the interests of the party when they should be acting in the best interest of the country. We have a voting population that tends to vote based upon their own interests rather than the collective interests of the country.

We have out of control politicians who due to a lack of pushback from their base are given a green light to do almost any unethical thing they like so long as it benefits the party. We have a largely partisan society that in terms of politics goes with the flow as opposed to holding those who serve them to universally applied ethical standards. We tend not to hold our leaders to universally applied ethical standards as to do so makes those who do the nail that sticks out and people tend to not want to be hammered by others in their group. Security gained by a political group affiliation trumps loyalty to country thus facilitating double standards, one set of rules for the “in” group and an other for the “out” group.

Politicians are not the problem, we the people are the problem as it is we the people who allow this dumpster fire that is modern day American politics to exist, thrive and continue. The problem will continue so long as political loyalty trumps loyalty to country... and far too many confuse the former for the latter.