Politician
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“”Politicians are not born, they are excreted
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| —Cicero |
A politician is someone who is highly involved with politics, or viewed as being so.
Many are honourable members of whichever parliamentary body they are involved with - others are after whatever they can get, from expenses to bunga bunga to adulation.
[edit] Politicians and politics
While politics is the means of deciding policy, and should (tautologically) be the main occupation of a politician, many modern examples are distanced from the actual policy, due to the increasing size and complexity of populations, laws and governments. This has the effect of making politicians more akin to diplomats and states(wo)men, whose primary function is to represent their country/state/constituancy, rather than steer its policies. One country where this has not occured to such a degree is the United States, as the President (because of his veto) still has a major effect on the course of the country's politics. This is in contrast to the role of the Prime Minister in the UK, who does not have a particularly high impact on politics themselves, and is instead more of a celebrity figure, representative of both his (or her) party and the country.
[edit] Political quotes
- "Snouts in the trough, hands in the till, fingers in the fleshpots."
- "How do you know when a politician is lying? His/her lips move."
- "A politician was given a lie detector test. It flashed when they told the unfamiliar truth."
[edit] See Also
- Politicians category — for our articles on politicians.