Beware the private sector actor who would aspire to public office!

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Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, William Gates, Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, etc.

Private sector actors make the world an ever-better place. The freest markets are where they thrive and where the masses enjoy the greatest standards of living. Their genius begets commerce, inspires competition and, therefore, accelerates the advancement of all manner of technology. And, by the way, commerce among nations has forever dwarfed military intimidation as a guarantor of peace.

The public sector is the upholder of the law and the arbiter of disputes. Politicians themselves are the manifestations of the evolving ideals of the populace. They are not leaders, they are followers by definition. They fall in line behind their interpretations of the desires of voters. While in office, they distribute the resources they extract from the private sector to do the bidding of those they deem most responsible for their political success. They do not create, innovate or even pave ways.

Have you come to the realization that the business people whom you truly admire would never run for office? Well, thank goodness! For had, choose a name from the above list, wasted his talents on the attainment of political office the benefits that he bestowed upon society would have, at best, been delayed.

We should be most suspicious of the private sector actor who would aspire to public office. For such aspiration has to mean that he is motivated by something other (narcissism perhaps) than achieving the utmost good from his skills. He knows that his time spent in office will lay his talents dormant and that he will produce nothing of value (as you and I would define it). For him to believe otherwise would make him a most ignorant creature.

And, no, he would not be your grand idealist. For the idealist whom you would have as your leader follower would be incapable of stooping to the subterranean antics---the lying, the twisting, the turning, the backstabbing and the pandering---that it takes to win public office.

So what does that leave us? What we have had and will always have, individuals who find their way to office by identifying and harnessing the aspirations, fears and prejudices of voters. Whether they spawn from the private sector or the public sector makes no difference whatsoever.