Only a Sociopath Would Want to Be a Politician These Days

I know I’m far from the first person to say this, but I don’t understand why anyone would want to be a politician these days.

I get the idea of why you’d want to be one: power, fame, clout, prestige, free healthcare, wined and dined by lobbyists, and all of the other perks. That all sounds great.

But, in reality, it’s not that great. Your power isn’t all that much – just ask any president that has had to deal with an unfriendly Congress how much power they actually wielded. And the voters? In 2016, with social media and cable news and everything else? Forget it. It’s awful and thankless. No matter what you do, people want you dead. This week’s RNC Convention proved it.

They all hate Hillary, of course, but they also hate Ted Cruz. And the smattering of people that like Ted Cruz hate Donald Trump. But Donald Trump is the presidential nominee, so you can’t really hate him if you want to be considered a good member of the party. So then Scott Walker and Paul Ryan fell in line and endorsed Trump and now people hate them for not hating Trump. Cruz doesn’t fall in line and people hate him even more than before.

Everybody hates everybody.

Say what you will about Obama – I’m a fan, but he hasn’t been as great as his staunchest supporters claim, but he also hasn’t been nearly as terrible as those that hate him would have you believe – but you must give him credit for bringing a level of respect and gravitas – but yet still fun – back to the Oval Office after Clinton’s shenanigans and Bush’s cowboy approach.

From a scandal standpoint, he’s been completely clean. And half the country still despises him.

Look at the rest of the current crop of national politicians. Chris Christie. Nancy Pelosi. Rudy Giuliani. Hillary Clinton. Scott Walker. Ted Cruz. Bernie Sanders. Jeb Bush. Carly Fiorina. Harry Reid. Mitch McConnell. A large majority of people hate all of them. Talk to politically-inclined people from across the spectrum and they’re hard-pressed to find one single person they were really excited to support.

So all of the leaders are putzes and all of the citizens hate them.

What a disaster.

No wonder John Boehner got the fuck out. Who needs the headaches? I’d rather just cut my grass too.

Christopher Pierznik’s eight books are available in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, Medium, and many more. Subscribe to his monthly reading review newsletter or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.