Differences Between - 1

One way to understand any topic is to better understand its opposite or an alternative.  For example, to understand the nature of gravity, it is useful to imagine no gravity.  To understand the qualities of a good teacher for example, think first of the qualities of a bad one.  This prescription - too see me, first see me not - gives broad outlines and shapes, while not rendering fine detail.

In this first installment of a new sequence of micro-essays, we consider the differences between…

Today, we consider the politician and two new breeds, those coming from business accustomed to deals plus things money can buy, and those emerging from the basement mimeograph machine accustomed to running off provocative missives to save the world.

Caution. If you lean left or right, you may not like what’s to come.

Businessmen think in terms of deals and profit (i.e. money). If dollars are involved all come to their normal levels of wishing for more. Thus, between them understanding is common. Conniving for its own sake is unproductive. For them, the rough and tumble is about money and influence. It’s not usually self-destructive. 

Politicians think in terms of people, money, power, and spite. Of course, they prefer people, money, and power.  But when challenged, they are content with spite, thus to prevent the opponent from any gain whatever, even at their own loss.  They will even spite one another, a terrible nastiness that can bring families and countries to ruin.*  You see, spite is the action form of hate. Spite often overrides the betterment of constituents.

Nonetheless, while both professions can be dirty, filthy, and vile, they are on occasion sublime. Second, what happens when professions become blended.

Businiticians are to be called the large number of businessmen turned politician elected to high office on this merit alone.  They may error in assuming the rules are the same as in business, underestimating the devastation caused by spite, misunderstanding that the opponent may not act in accordance with any practical rules. While they bring good principles of dealing and organization, they arrive encumbered by misconceptions.

Activicians are those activists and organizers vaulting from street work to the highest chambers of government with nothing in between. They come to the table with the idealism of youth but with no experiences of compromise and no respect for other ideas.  So encumbered they are by rigid ideas, they are inclined to bring down the world around them simply to make a point.

*Recall from Matthew 12:25:  Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. It was also used by Abraham Lincoln in his election against Stephen Douglas on June 16, 1858.  Lincoln was throughout his life an avid reader and a masterful writer.