An ultra- liberal politician sees “the art of politics is to inflame and direct desire.”
Democracy and Power 105: The Politician seeks power
The desire to rule is the mother of heresies. – St. John Chrysostom
In America, a politician intentionally selects to enter politics. He or she seeks power in the name of the public good, but predominately they seek power. When a person enters Congress or the Presidency, they seek and use the coercive power of government.
An ultra- liberal politician sees “the art of politics is to inflame and direct desire.”
Jay Ambrose in the Detroit News recalls an old essay by Michael Oakeshott a deceased British political philosopher. Oakeshott claimed that liberal politicians seek to use government’s “reservoir of power.” Ambrose paraphrases Oakeshott:
…(Liberal Politicians) see government “as a vast reservoir of power,” and that power “inspires them to dream,” to come up with “favorite projects” that “they sincerely believe are for the benefit of mankind.” So they grab for the power, maybe increase it, and then use it to impose these projects on everyone else. To them, government is “an instrument of passion” and “the art of politics is to inflame and direct desire.”
Because of the public’s indifference to works of politicians, the ultra-liberal often prevail. Alternatively, when the “imposed projects” are costly burdens the voters abruptly react. Ambrose says the public is discovering the cost and burdens of ObamaCare and the $862 billion stimulus.
A public plagued with Obama’s version of plenty is turning on him and his abettors.
It’s not because voters have been rendered idiots by economic circumstances, as Obama put it somewhat more circumspectly in one of his talks, but because we see a truth he seems incapable of accepting.
