The never-ending drama of politics

There is a problem here.

We play for politics, rate for politics, watch media for politics and discuss politics — but, evaluate on good governance.

That’s where all the crisis happens.

Politics is a more like a soccer game. And the magical media makes it aggressive at a time when taking a deep breath is recommended.

Good governance is like building an organization. It needs long-term perspective, unwavering focus, insane commitment to purpose and delivering on agreed upon goals [and promises].

Now, to reach the playfield for governance, you have to play with politics. And due to its contagious nature, it makes you addicted to emergency. It bribes your ego to blame instead of taking responsibility. It tempts you to take undue credit and treat the best work of opposition as trash.

This “Always On, Always Emergency” mindset make things ugly. It’s true with global happenings, local scandals, talk shows — everything is a potential point-scoring tool.

Media fuels it and media feeds from it. You don’t get attention by building a road. You get attention by blocking it. You don’t get attention by investing in prevention of non-communicable diseases, but you get some serious attention by distributing ration bags. This road will never take you to good governance.

This approach makes politics a cash intensive game, and hence, prospect for people entering in it gets narrower. And this should not be a surprise that the ones who fund politicians is doing it for God’s sake. More money comes in, more reactive stance builds momentum — which ultimately puts good governance and ethical leadership go out the window.

So, it all boils down to this. You get elected by playing on emergency tactics… tactics of blame, shame and instant fame. The problem with getting elected using emergency tactics is that it makes it close to impossible to govern for the long term.