The Profession of Politics

Politics has never been a noble profession. Politicians as a class have always been despised , ridiculed and sniggered at. Even to this day no school boy aspires to become a politician. The educated middle classes - except in the case of our freedom struggle - have generally kept out of politics and views it as a dirty business. Even the great epic Mahabharatha at the end of a Pyrrhic victory abhorred the profession of politics.

No, do not imagine the crooked politician of your locality while reading this - the negative perception cuts across eras and countries. If you were to open the newspapers of days gone by for instance, you will notice that the leaders we revere today were also jeered upon exactly as it is today. Even the great Abraham Lincoln was not spared as some critics at the time shockingly called him a despot even as we now consider him as the ideal democrat! The point is that we have always tended to view politicians in a negative light. So why this almost inherent negative attitude towards politics and politicians?

We tend to see politics as just another profession - just like the ones each of us have - and tend to judge the politician by the same rules of ethics and morality that we associate with our own professions. This is the starting point of the mistake because politics is really an entirely different kind of 'indulgence', very different from mine and your professions. Let me explain.

Firstly, politics really at it core stripped of all the perceptions is a profession where one selflessly executes the power bestowed on him for the betterment of the society. But this is a huge burden to carry as man is inherently a selfish being thinking only about himself. If a common man is given such powers his natural instinct will be to misuse it in his favour, its human nature and politics demands us to suppress that instinct. Hence when we judge the profession of politics we forget the onerous task assigned to it and fail to empathise with it in the first place and view it critically.

Secondly, politics has to answer all the tough questions in our society most of which divide the society down the middle. These of not comfortable questions like 'who is your favourite actor?' , 'what food do you like?', in fact be it reservations, religious issues , nuclear proliferation or minority rights all the tough questions fall on the politician who will become unpopular which ever way he tends to bend. Hence the political questions of the day and our views on them tend to color our perception of politics and results in politics being despised.

Thirdly, politics unlike other professions is a zero-sum game. Unlike in our professions where you invariably get another chance or post, there is just a limited number of positions, only one vacancy for the post of Prime Minister for example so either you get it or don't , there is no middle way. Hence politics tends to side step idealism in favour of practicality and when we judge this behaviour against our steadfast idealism when it comes to morality and ethics we become angry at the politician's lack of them. We use our yardstick to judge them which makes us despise them even more. This does not mean we discount professional ethics entirely when judging politicians but we need to flavour it with a tinge of practicality too.

Lastly, as the saying goes 'we get the politicians we deserve'. Hence, the politicians a society gets is a reflection of the good and bad of the society itself. For instance, a caste-based society will get politicians who play the caste card and on the other hand a society which has implemented gender rights will get a polity that is equal in terms of gender. Hence instead of blaming the politicians we should reflect upon the current state of our society and try to correct it, which in turn will have a ripple effect and give us better politicians.

The above arguments may give an impression of being sympathetic to the crooked politicians. But its not, all forms of malfeasance should be exposed and punished and its imperative for the politician to do his duty and strive for the betterment of the society. However - in this age of politician-bashing - it is just an attempt to really understand the broader profession of politics and show the side that evades us so that we do not become cynical about it and view it in a more positive light.