Do politicians know more about America than Americans do?

[Gogf]

I've heard it said hundreds of times before, that keeping taxes high is a good idea, but in fact that people who disagree with politicians are just "bitter." I've heard this being said, not by normal blue-collar tax-paying Americans, but by politicians. Americans insist that paying less taxes would give them more money, but politicians seem to know better. How? Were they once taxpayers themselves? Do they have intimate knowledge of tax-paying, gather through in depth undercover infiltration of the normal community? Are they psychic? Or are normal Americans just too academically stunted to understand anything?

Honestly, I really don't understand it. I hope you don't think this is a troll thread -- I just can't fathom it. Maybe I'm just ignorant.

 

[Red Door]

Only the ones without the D next to their state name on the TV.

Moderator Action: You don't need to troll this into a partisan discussion.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Tycoon101]

They are America and so can you!

 

[QuoVadisNation]

It depends on the issue. Politicians do know more than the average American when it comes to certain issues. Afterall, the majority of politicians went to Law school and they thus read a lot, know how laws operate, know how tax codes work, and the sort.

Some politicians are academics, and most academics know more and thus know more about American history or American society in general than the average American.

So yeah, in certain issues, I would generally agree. However, they don't know everything. A good example is that they don't know anything about medicine or the economy. Hell, there's a lot they don't know anything about.

edit: It's important to remember that just because they "know more", doesn't necessarily mean you should trust them. They are Politicians afterall.

 

[Cutlass]

A lot of Americans know very little about how the government operates. You want less government? Fine. Which part do you want to cut? There is no consensus on what can be removed. There is little on what needs to be done. Officials are elected to become knowledgeable on the subjects and make the choices. The ones who tell you that you can have it all and not pay for it are liars or fools. If you want something cut, they you have to create a consensus to cut it. Until you do that, then you have to pay for what is being done.

The Democrats don't want taxes to be high as an end in itself, they want certain actions done by the government for various reason and that is what it takes to pay for them.

The Republicans say they want low taxes, but they refuse to cut spending to bring the equation into line in that direction.

You may disagree with what the Democrats do, but at least they are closer to honest about it.

TANSTAAFL Republicans need to learn it.

 

[bhsup]

Most Americans don't even know that much about America as a whole. It's quite diverse (more than the UK!! ). Since politicians, at least at the federal level, might be more inclined to travel than the average American, then yes they may well know more simply by being exposed to more of the country than the average American.

 

[Narz]

What the hell does this have to do with music?

 

[OttoManD]

All Americans want their taxes lower. However, a majority of Americans want a large military, some form of government-supported health care, energy independence, etc,

If you look at McCain's economic plan, he wants to cut all earmarks. Which is great, earmarks can be a huge waste of money. However, the earmarks are a) a tiny proportion of the federal budget, less than 2% and b) include important foreign aid programs, like aid to Israel.

Similarly, McCain proposes making the Bush tax cuts permanent while simultaneously granting huge tax incentives to prevent climate change, expanding the size of the military, and continuing the war in Iraq which costs roughly $1 billion per week.

The chief problem here is that there is no possible way to run a balanced budget when you do all that. I think the Democrats have been historically much more honest (though not completely honest) about what their government programs would actually cost.

Before anyone starts talking about President Reagan, he presided over the largest EVER increase in the money owed by the American federal government.

So, ya vote for McCain, and your taxes will be low. But you will never see a dime of Social Security or Medicare/Medicaid.

 

[Ecofarm]

Wont need social security (largely prescription drugs) or medicare/medicaid. The dem national healthcare program (billions of dollars) will take care of me, assuming the commies get their way eventually.

Anyone under the age of 40 who thinks they are seeing social security is delusional anyway.

 

[demokratickid]

They are America and so can you!

Perhaps my favorite book, ever.

 

[Narz]

Anyone under the age of 40 who thinks they are seeing social security is delusional anyway.

That's for sure. I'd say anyone under 50 personally, maybe even 55.

 

[Theige]

Yes.

XCR

 

[Fronx]

my opinions:

1) [American] politicans also belong to group of americans, so the question in topic is quite weird, unless you mean that being from group of "being american" and simultaneously in being in the group of "politician" makes one stupider...


2) If I have IT problem, I ask from a person whom is experienced in IT. In same way, I would trust people experienced in politics being the most capable of handling political issues. (exceptions always exsist ofcourse, but theyre marginal situations).

In this perspective, I definitely would say that [american] politicans in high enough places know definitely more about america, in macro level, than an average american individual thinks he knows from his/hers subjective, micro level point of view.

 

[Cutlass]

I don't see how people still have the silly idea that cutting the cost of health care in half is in some way more than we already spend

 

[downtown]

For the question in the OP- Most of the time.

 

[Hackapell]

To the OP- typically.

Most politicians have high level degrees and legions of think tanks, media resources, and access to files and laws that are incomprehensible to people who haven't been exposed to bureaucratic language to give them highly informed opinions.

How they use them(or not) is another story.

 

[Humpty Dumpty]

Do politicians know more about America than Americans do?

Do Americans know more about politics than politicians do know about politics?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yes. Wether they'll act on the best intrest of America and Americans (or any other country) is anohter pickle.

 

[The Yankee]

I was going to say that they'd probably know more about the costs and scale of things up for consideration than your average citizen, but given how they've run budgets lately, I'm highly doubting my own thought on the matter.

But in general, they probably know more about America. At least they'll know more about their own regions if they've stayed there for quite a while and it may be knowing more about America than an average citizen that may not stray too far from where they grew up.

Though, to the people's credit, there are some issues that they know more than the politicians. Especially when it comes to pain.