I want to ask you all some things that have been on my mind for a while

[Daylin Byak]

I haven't been having a good week with the potenial relocation of my havorite NHL team Pittsburgh Penguins and with the Pittsburgh Politicans jerking our chains about giving us a new arena to keep the team in town.

So I have two questions that I really need to get of my chest and since DU consists of the smartest bloggers I have ever seen you can help me out

1. Do you believe that all politicans are criminals(Repukes AND Dems)I have been told that they are and absolutely none of them are working for you, I don't believe that I happen to think that both parties have excellent politicans working hard for us, but I do believe some are criminals in my opinion but not all of them.

2. Is it wrong to look up to politicans as a sort of hero? Really is it, I kinda of look to them as fighters looking up to our best intrests you know people like Al Gore, Russ Feingold, Arlen Specter and Dennis Kucinich I think they can be consider heroes cobsidering the work they do.

I'm sorry about these questions but there really on my mind and I need them answered.

Thank You and Have A Good Day.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. In any group, you'll have your crooks and your straight arrows

I think it is ill advised to ever generalize about any group of people. What a wise citizen does is look at the individual's record; if that individual is a crook, by all means disseminate the information to as many people as possible. If that individual is working hard to be an honest servant of the public, do the same thing, and more--support that individual's campaign in some way.

I think one finds one's heros in all walks of life. Again, what makes a person a hero is not what his occupation is, but rather what he does. One of my heros was an advertising account executive, a rich dude from New York, probably the last occupation where you think you'd find a hero. But if you follow this link, you'll see why David McCall is a hero in my book:
http://www.geocities.com/ayeshahaqqiqa/heroes.html

[Warpy]

2. I know how I answer those questions

1. I think a lot of them go in with great ideas of what they are going to do for the folks back home and find that the job is completely different from what their civics class in high school told them it would be. They also find out that the people who paid to put them into office expect a lot of things in return and if the money goes away, so does their chance of getting anything good done. The worst get cynical and turn crooked. The best hang in there and try to do the best job they can in spite of the system. Examples of the latter would be Kucinich, Sanders, Kennedy and even Kerry.

2. Choose your heroes wisely and recognize that the most heroic of the heroes is going to have some surprising warts in surprising places. None of us is perfect. Remember that someone can be a hero one day and Satan's helper the next. Also recognize that a hero in one area can be a real scumbag in another.

That's the viewpoint that helps me keep some semblance of sanity.

[donsu]

3. I'm always amazed at the patience of the ones working for our good

I could never do it.

Their having to work thru and around all that bullshit and criminal activity. putting up with attempted bribes and bullying. and threats.

putting on a good face while working for us. never giving up.

and I thank them.

[LeftishBrit]

4. First of all, I hope things look up for you!

As regards your questions, I'm not American so my experiences may be different from yours, but:

No, I don't think that all politicians are criminals. I think politics, especially in its higher echelons, does attract a certain number of people who are too interested in power for its own sake. One has to be a bit cynical about people who want to be prime ministers or presidents, as many have the wrong motives. But not all do; and it can be just as dangerous to assume that 'all politicians are alike' ('so why vote?'); as to trust all polticians. In the UK, at least, only a minority of politicians are criminals in the strict sense (bribe-taking, embezzling, etc.); though a fair number are arrogant fools.

We have had some politicians here whom I greatly respect: unfortunately many of the best are now dead, from Clement Attlee to Mo Mowlam. I really like my own MP, Evan Harris, though he is not high-up or famous. I knew, liked and admired the Oxford local councillor and Green Party activist Mike Woodin, who died tragically at the age of 38. (To avoid misunderstandings that I'd rather not have where he's concerned, there are very important differences between the Green Party in the UK and the USA.) I think we've had rotten top leaders in the last 25 years, but a lot of individual politicians have been good.

And as regards American politics: I have HUGE admiration for Carter. I think that Clinton, though a bit to the right of my ideal preference, was very intelligent and an excellent leader under often difficult circumstances. I think that Gore is brilliant, though I'm sure I'd disagree with him on some issues, as I would with anyone. There are others who, as far as I can tell from 3000 miles away, seem excellent.

[asjr]

8. Thank you. Sometimes it takes a person

outside the ring to point out what is actually right in our faces. We do have a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly. In my lifetime this is the ugliest administration we have ever had. I share your admiration of Clinton and Carter. Why? Because they are not afraid to speak the truth. Americans can handle the truth. There are far too many politicians only looking to promote themselves and not the people.

[Virginia Dare]

5. As someone who has been in D.C. for a long time..

I think that most politicians on the national level aren't really working for "you". There are some exceptions to that rule of course.

I don't think it's wrong to look up to anyone as a hero, if they are deserving of that status.

[mtnsnake]

6. So you're a Penguins diehard, eh

I know the feeling. I lived and died all my life to see a Rangers cup, and June 14th, 1994 became the most important day of my life (or close to it, depending on who's reading my posts, lol).

As far as the Penguins thing that you're upset about, yeah, it was a bad day for Pittsburgh when the Isle of Capri didn't get the bid. If they had gotten it, they were guaranteeing that the team would've stayed in Pittsburgh regardless. However, with the Detroit people getting the bid, they're not guaranteeing anything like that. There isn't even a guarantee that you'll get a new facility. and the Penguins definitely need a new arena. I've heard some talk that Kansas City would love luring a team like the Penguins to that area. I think they've got a vacant arena there, one that Phillip Anchewitz (sp?) built, who's the Kings owner, and they'd love to fill it with Penguins. That would be a shame. I feel for ya.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. I agree,

The arena is awful long in the tooth. The retractable dome hasn't worked in ages. The loadin is a complete pain.

I know that Pittburgh is a city with financial problems, but there are a lot of big companies there that could pony up. They should.

[jarab]

9. Most politicians are like diapers ...

they have to be changed every so often, and generally for the same reason.

...O...

[The Deacon]

10. I Always Love Sweeping Generalizations

"Politicians" are neither heroes or goats (this excepts the few obviously criminal ones taking bribes, etc.) They are human beings with human flaws. For some this means looking out for corporate interests because they believe corporate money got them there. For others this means looking out for other groups they think were instrumental in their election. If these groups are not in agreement with your position the politician is "pandering." If you are a member of this group the politician is doing constituent service. You only find "heroes" (people who do 'right' rather than 'popular') among those who do not have to convince 51% of the people voting every two to six years that they are as pure as the driven snow (or at least better than that other bum.)

On the Penguins - I truly HATE this blackmail bullshit multi-million teams pull every few years. Build me a new stadium or we'll go somewhere else. Down here in the hockey-deprived South we have to beg for small favors like affordable rent (we lost the Alabama Slammers, Asheville Aces, Greenville Grrrowl & Macon Traxx in the last three years to this) or practice ice (only one team in the Southern Professional Hockey League has a secondary ice to practice on: the Huntsville Havoc, which can use the local figure skating rink.) Despite all this, we have teams in the ECHL, CHL & formed an A-League (the aforementioned Southern Professional Hockey League, the survivors of the failed Atlantic Coast Hockey League, South East Hockey League & World Hockey League-2, plus a couple of refugees from the more expensive AA ECHL.)
Really want to put the kibosh on this blackmail? Start talking (very publicly) with a few AHL or Quebec Senior teams to take over your ice - it will strengthen your negotiating hand (not to mention they play better hockey than today's NHL figure-skaters.)

[Daylin Byak]

13. I couldn't agree more

I don't like it either how owners blackmail city politicans to give in to there demands or well move, it's childish and it divides people apart.

Excellent post.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Response

1. Do you believe that all politicans are criminals(Repukes AND Dems)I have been told that they are and absolutely none of them are working for you, I don't believe that I happen to think that both parties have excellent politicans working hard for us, but I do believe some are criminals in my opinion but not all of them.

That statement is suspect if only because it is a sweeping generalization. ayeshahaqqiqa in the title to the first post says it best.

2. Is it wrong to look up to politicans as a sort of hero? Really is it, I kinda of look to them as fighters looking up to our best intrests you know people like Al Gore, Russ Feingold, Arlen Specter and Dennis Kucinich I think they can be consider heroes cobsidering the work they do.

If you look to any mortal as a ideal type, you will probably end up disappointed. Dig deep enough and you'll find flaws.

[Daylin Byak]

14. Well we all have flaws

Nobody it perfect, I bet you have done stuff and made decsions in your life that you regreted

[Jack Rabbit]

16. You bet I have

But then I don't claim to be a hero.

[Daylin Byak]

18. Of course

Maybe describing a politican as a "hero" was too strong of a word, I just look up to them and I am I big fan that's about it, anyone politican who accepts corporate money if truely not a hero.

[roody]

12. The way campaigns are financed encourages

politicians to work for those who finance their campaigns, not to work for the people they "represent." Public financing will help the situation.

[Daylin Byak]

15. I couldn't agree more

Politicans are supposed to work for the people and I believe that those same people should be financing there campaigns and not corporate donors. Plus I believe it will make races more competitive.

[Larry Ogg]

17. Are all politicians’ crooks? Only the one’s that get caught!

Is it wrong to look up to politicians as a sort of hero? I think for the most part the hero’s are weeded out in the by the puppet masters and the corporately financed political process with maybe a few exceptions.

[Daylin Byak]

19. Sorry I think hero was too strong of a word

I just look up to them and i'm a big fan but that's it. Any politican who accepts corporate money is truely not a hero in my book.

Does that sound about right.