When have you felt let down by a politician you believed in?

This is two questions wrapped in one: When have I felt let down by a politician? Every time one opens his or her mouth. When have I believed in a politician? Never, once they have decided that he or she IS a politician.

Sure, happens all the time. That’s why the Tea Party started.

Running as a conservative but then governing like a liberal because it’s the easier path. Give out more government paid for with someone else’s money. Get more people addicted to a government program so they are dependent on you for their livelihood and then have to vote for them.

I don’t let politicians let me down any more, because I don’t trust them from either party.

It’s a curious question. I have to wonder who in their right mind would want to be a politician?

I feel let down by RT Rybak. He really seems to connect with me on so many issues. He understands his city and the peole who live there. However I am truly disappointed with his tenacity in trying to take money from working class taxpayers and give it to the millionaires and billionaires who will reap the profits from professional sports facilities.

After Jesse Ventura’s election. He started as someone who spoke honestly and passionately about being an outsider and a real alternative to the two major parties. He stated that he was “unbeholden” by political favoritism or special interests. He ended up as just another politician.

I had hopes that he might actually make a difference. Instead he used his position as a self-promotion tool for monetary gain.

They all seem to campaign as representatives and wake up the morning after election day to discover that they think they have become leaders.

Then they find that getting re-elected requires promising to give things to their constituents that must be taken from someone else. So voters must accept blame for wanting politicians to “bring home the bacon.”

Do you think anyone would get elected who said, “I promise no goodies, only to be principled and strictly follow the constitution.”

Steve the Cynic – [Obama seems to be a big disappointment to two groups of people. The first is ideological liberals who were disappointed that he turned out to be quite moderate (which they would have known had they actually listened to his campaign speeches). The second is Republicans who crossed over and voted for him in Democratic primaries, thinking he’d be less electable than Hillary.] *** You might think that but I was actually a Democrat until that election in 2008. It was right around that time between the primary and the general election when I stopped being a Democrat…honestly I’m still an independent since many of my views are spread across both political parties. Lately I have found myself trying to be as intellectually honest as possible and I find myself looking at both Democrats and Republicans as hypocrites. With the Democrats they will never cut budgets and never come out with a solution that involves a cut to any social program…with Republicans I despise their attempts to make gay marriage illegal and their social issue views appear nonsensical they seem to be based on religion rather than logic. Both sides need to reflect upon their positions and work together to accomplish at least what they agree on.

The Republican Party let me down during the 2000 election, and hasn’t really stopped. We can’t prove it, but George Bush and his brother Jeb found a way to illegally swing Florida in favor of George. Republicans USED to stand up for public schools AND college universities. They don’t do that any more, passing the laughable No Child Left Behind Act which did exactly the opposite, left many, mostly students of color, behind. The Party stopped, I mean came to a screeching stop, debating President Obama about the issues and resorted to calling him names – socialist, Muslim, incompetent, etc., and they haven’t stopped since. I still have really no idea how the Republicans intend to increase our economy and save jobs, because EVERYTHING they have said has been Obama can’t do this, and he can’t do that. They CONTINUE to suggest our electoral process allows too many fraudlent voters to vote, EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF THAT IN ANY STATE AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS GREATLY BENEFITTED FROM THE SO-CALLED FLAWED SYSTEM IN 2000, 2004, AND 2010. Every one who owns a business complains health insurance is TOO HIGH. But, when the Republicans had a chance to reduce health care costs, the Party balked and called the rest of us Americans socialists. George Bush AND Rick Perry tried in vain to get Republicans to Latin Americans. Instead, the Republicans have settled on the ever-so-genocidal round them up and kick em out policy, which will make us look really bad internationally. For more than a decade Republicans in Minnesota kept claiming government was too big and spent too much. Yet, every year since then, we keep hearing how the state is IN REALLY BAD DEBT, and how many institutions, BEYOND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM, now have a difficult time doing even the basic things, like shoveling snow. But, what’s worse, a majority of the people keep believing this stuff instead of actually measuring the facts. They keep calling people like me, leftist and liberal, instead of opening their eyes and asking themselves these questions, like if our voting system is really that bad, and how did Republicans gain both sides of the Legislature for the first time in 38 years?

Methinks thou dost protest too much, “Jefferson.” When I catch myself taking impersonal comments personally, I find it helpful to ask myself what I’m in denial about and to question whether I’m not thinking of myself as more important than I really am.

So, you jumped from one ideology to another, as if you’re atoning for your previous mistake, huh? I’ve got news for you: the opposite of one mistake is often another mistake. The problem is political ideology per se, not whether you’ve got the right one.

You can be disappointed by narsisistic gas bags unless you enter into the arrangements with some sort of preconceived notions. That or you wrote a ridiculously large check to them and thought you would gain something in return.

I guess you get what you pay for.