Politicians

[jack scribe]

I just came across a terrific few lines in John Sandford's book, Night Prey. The hero of the Prey series is a Minneapolis detective - Lucas Davenport. He's tough and very savvy. In this scene, Lucas is describing to his lady friend - Weather - why politicians panic when several constituents, or the press, call to complain/react/report about a problem.

"I don't understand all the panic,' Weather said.

"You have to look at Davenport's first rule of how the world really works," Lucas replied. "It's simple.

A politician will never, ever, get a better job when he gets out of office."

"That's it?"

"That's it. That explains everything. They're desperate to hang on to their jobs. That's why they panic. They lose the election, it's back to the car wash."

That is it...in a nutshell.

[Trab]

That doesn't really apply in Canada. Here there IS one better job: being appointed to the Senate (not elected in Canada). However, you usually don't get that if you were voted out, so the rule sort of applies anyway.