Politicians - at least, successful ones - are easily malleable; while there are undoubtedly some good, reliable politicians around, to truly succeed in this profession, one must be callous, cold, calculating, and selfish.
I know several politicians personally, at varying levels of government, and sudguce it to say that, yes - I believe it is that simple.
They all start out with sunshine, lollipops, and good intentions in their eyes, but soon they lose their way, either because:
(1) they go into self-preservation mode, to save their own careers; or
(2) they get pressured by party members into changing.
Call it a simplistic view oid you wish, but I've met too many politicians at council, State, and Federal level, who have all behaved in the same way, to see it any differently.
The good eggs rarely last.
I'll tell you a story about politicians, and why I hate them so much.
Please note that I am no expert in politics, or the legal system, and so I can only go off what I know/was told by people who know better than I do.
About ten years ago, my ill mother asked around to get some advice regarding accessing her superannuation a little earlier than planned; she was in her mid-fifties, very unwell, and willing to work (but nobody would hire her due to her health).
She spoke to our local council, who advised that she see a lawyer, so that he could draft a letter, outlining why she needed to access her super early.
And it was necessary- the disability pension did not cover the mortgage payments, and we faced being kicked to the streets, unless she could access her super.
The lawyer drafted the letter, sent a copy to the local council person, and sent another copy to the superannuation firm.
The locally-elected MP then gets in touch with my mum, promising he will fight for justice, and help us every step of the way.
The superannuation firm says no, and mum's lawyer advises to go to court, because he believes there is strong ground for her to access her super early.
Local MP says he is happy to testify in court on mum's behalf.
Mum's lawyer spends week preparing the guy to take the stand.
The court day comes...and the MP does a 180; he totally backflips on his promise. He stonewalls. He claims the law says you access your super at 65, clear as day. He says he doesn't know why we are in court.
Mum's lawyer put up a very good fight after being blindsided, but was ultimately not successful.
Mum was fuming. She asked this dude why he changed his mind, seemingly at the flip of a switch, with so much at stake, and no prior warning.
The MP refuses to answer, and keeps deflecting.
My mum's lawyer tries to get answers, to no avail.
Eventually, under the threat of a lawsuit, the MP admits to the lawyer that he changed his mind due to a conflict of interest; he was, evidently, quite chummy with a very senior executive at the superannuation firm, and that executive applied pressure to the MP to cut the deal off.
Long story short, the arsehole promised to help, and then backpedaled when we needed him most, because it wasn't in his best interests to help us.
We nearly lost the house, the stress almost killed my mother, and this merkinball escaped any serious scrutiny over his behaviour; we lodged an official complaint, which was thrown out due to lack of evidence.
He's a f**king scumbag, imo.
