I personally feel that the conduct of Pakistan Politicians are a national embarrassment (I'm not the first and I doubt I'll be the last). On a pretty regular basis our politicians (and lets not shy away from that these are the chaps we enthusiastically elect) are embroiled in controversy, whether its saying 'corruption is their right' or stealing other peoples' credit card information to buy jewelery, they seem to be very apt at surviving their predicaments and even retaining their positions of power and privilege.
Having spent time abroad where the mere allegation of impropriety and off-hand casual remark is can be death knell for any promising political career I find it shocking (well now not so much) that here it hardly matters. I've whittled down my reasoning to several key streams of thought of why things are the way they are:
1. Politicians don't care what the media says; Their tribal affiliations will re-ensure their re-election, dirt they have on other politicians will keep their traps shut, court cases can be dragged on indefinitely (oh and judges can be bribed too).
2. People have low expectations of Politicians; Sadly we don't hold them to a higher standard namely adhere to the law (I personally break the traffic light on every possible occasion)
3. It is more entertaining this way; We have an endless stream of entertaining scandalous YouTube clips, funny stories to gossip about in our free time and we wouldn't have it any other way. We don't have a vibrant scandal driven celeb gossip scene (Meera excepted) and in dire economic circumstances politicians act as both comedians and ambassadors for Cribs.
4. We care more about cricket than politicians; Considering the dismal state of our team and how little we care about cricket nowadays that in itself speaks volumes.
5. Fear the politicians; No one wants to get on the wrong side of an elected politician who has a truck load of Blackwater style security..hell unelected politicians have them too. So why rock the boat, I wouldn't want to put my life on the life for a few million of other peoples tax money (I pay little tax)
6. Envy; Who wouldn't be envious of a group that gets away with everything...seriously. Caught or not, Pakistani politicians are always in the clear. Hell its considered a rite of passage to have been jailed atleast once.
7. Democracy; We elected them, we know what they are like and hey democracy is better than military rule (lets forget the rapid economic growth that happened under unpopular General Musharruf...damn him for increasing our GDP!)
8. If the system ain't broke, why fix it; Life goes on, as corrupt and ridiculous as politicians are Pakistan has always seemed to get out of any predicament they've placed the country in. So all is good. Tally ho!
If this is who we choose to elect and refuse to take offense on how our country is pillaged then we deserve these kind of politicians. Let them prosper! odds our they will even without our acquiescence.
