Them there lies

Have you ever heard a politician say something like ”It is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of doing what is right.” ?

Chances are, you have. And the overwhelmingly high chance is that they are lying. I'm picking on one Republican Senator with this quotation, but promises and assertions like these are part of every politician's rhetoric.

Corresponding with a friend of mine about a recent blog post, I was reminded of a concept I learned in an economics class about state and local government and financing.


It's called the "short time horizon". What it meant in the context that I learnt it was that politicians are motivated by many things "within their time" (funding, publicity, base of support, re-election) when the things we want them to care about are often "outside their time" (legislation, project completion, long term city/state wellbeing, and often, good policy*).

The lesson there was that politicians cannot be trusted to make decisions that are in the absolute best interest of the communities and counties they serve, and that legislation must provide ways for them to be accountable for their actions, and overridden if necessary.

*(let's take an undisputably good policy, like ending tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans)



What I realised after some pondering is that all people have short time horizons.

What the afore-linked oktrends article points to, I believe, is simply how we focus on personal gains that are close to us in time and space (because of our mortal limitations) and so make decisions that benefit us now, that are not optimal for the long run (or for society at large). It's pretty elementary psychology and economics.

Indeed, we likely "have less choice than we think we do, about our principles, beliefs and ideologies" -- the things we believe in most strongly. Certainly when it comes to politics anyway.


Perhaps I finally realised that "politicians are people too" or perhaps more cynically that "we are just like them".