Politics Is An Illegitimate Means To Getting Things Done



As we have been reading more in "The Secret Handshake" this week this quote from the book jumped out at us. 

We can't really say it jumped out as much as it's something we read and it just sat in the back of our minds eating away until we finally couldn't ignore it anymore.


The quote is as follows:

"The real political moves are the one not written down anywhere. Simply put, politics is an illegitimate means of getting things done."

Let that sink in for a minute...

"an illegitimate means of getting things done."

When you think of illegitimate things what comes to mind?

First and foremost your minds goes to things you probably shouldn't be doing.

Things that are probably just on the fringe of legal and illegal.

That's not a safe place and not a place that usually a lot of people like to live their lives or operate in their daily space.

If you look at the actual definition of the word "illegitimate" in the dictionary it says:

"Not authorized by the law; not in accordance with accepted standards or rules."

If we look at the word by the actual dictionary definition then the word doesn't look so far off when it comes to politics.

Especially the part that says "not in accordance with accepted standards or rules."

Have you ever known a politician who plays by any rules besides the one they make up?

But hey were not here to talk about politicians are we, no we are not. We are hear to talk about politics and this quote from the book we're studying.

The first part of the quote really makes sense to us.

"The real political moves are the one not written down anywhere."

If you been alive for over 5 minutes you know this first statement is true.

The real political power players do everything in the shadows.  They have off the record conversations, they have dirt on each other, and they know exactly what thumbscrew to apply when the time comes for something they want to get done.

That's pretty much the life of a "Political Power Player". 

Don't lie to yourself and say hey they're just like us. They put their pants on the same way we do every morning.

Let's be honest, they don't put their own pants on in the morning. They have a staff of three who puts their pants on for them each and every day.  

Power allows you to have certain little perks and privileges in life that others just don't have nor will they ever have.

We're not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, we are just saying that power by itself is neither good or bad it all depends on how you use your power.

So we guess the final question we have for this week is this...

By the quote we've given for discussion this week are you willing to do illegitimate things to achieve and retain power in life?

Let us know your answer below we'd love to talk to you more about your thoughts on this question.

No comments:

Post a Comment