(Article originally appeared at the Hallmark Abstract Service blog here)

It occurs on both sides of the political aisle and I for one, am getting very tired of it all a full 10 9 months before the November election!

I speak, of course, of the three P’s!

These three P’s (there are likely more) consist of the pandering, promises andpolitical maneuvering that takes place all of the time in Washington.

And these staples of the political process don’t only occur during a presidential election year but in this particular cycle it seems they have gone to levels that have become increasingly over-the-top.

The Political Process Is A Simple One

Politicians will promise the world while knowing they can’t deliver most if not all of whatever it is they are saying at the time.

They will  assume the power that allows them to become the human version of a chameleon and change tone and speech content to suit the constituency they are speaking to.

And of course they will enact whatever political strategy necessary to get to the ultimate prize (or apparently the only prize)…winning an election and assuming the office.

In bipartisan fashion we have recently seen these strategic shenanigans from the Republican candidates, including when the Cruz campaign spread the rumor that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race while the Iowa caucus was taking place.

And, with the sad and untimely passing of  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, we are seeing similar games being played by Democrats concerning the nominee process during an election year.

Joe Biden insists President Obama has the duty and the right to nominate a successor (which he does) and that the Senate Judiciary Committee has the obligation to consider him or her (which they basically do). While Vice President Biden is absolutely correct about process, in 1992 he had a different opinion about how a SCOTUS vacancy should play itself out during an election year…

(Note: Not that it will likely matter but when making statements differing from past statements politicians from both parties should remember about that little thing known as video archives)

We The People

In an attempt to maintain the discussion business focused as this is of course a business venue, a problem (one of them) with the political process and the politicians involved with it is that while they are playing their election ‘games’ telling ‘we the people’ that they feel the pain of Main Street, the majority likely don’t. While many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck consider that the average net worth in Congress is well over $1 million with some far exceeding that number!

Some will tell you that they understand the struggles of running a business and yet, again, most don’t. In fact a 2009 study found that only 26.5% of Congressional Democrats had direct business experience along with 45% of Republicans. (Source)

There will be politicians that will say that that given segments of the population who, by virtue of their energy, drive, vision and execution of a business plan, are to be vilified and punished for their success. At the same time they will argue that the punishment in the form of higher taxes won’t disincentivize future generations of potential entrepreneurs from making the effort. To reiterate the reasons why they can make this statement, I refer you back to the prior paragraph.

But all of that said, ultimately in this election cycle for President of the United States there will be a winner.

And once the pomp and circumstance of the swearing in ceremony is over and the winner takes office will they actually implement, or better yet actually try to implement, the grandiose ideas and promises that drove a majority of the electorate to put them there?

It’s a crapshoot and one of the many reasons why voters need to take a long and hard look at the candidates to try and make the best and most educated choice!

Conclusion

At the end of the day (and the end of this article) the point is this. For many of the politicians running for office it’s all a game with winning an election the ultimate prize.

For the rest of us this is all real life with family responsibilities, mortgages to be paid, credit card bills, college tuition, healthcare costs,  job security concerns and that ultimate brass ring  of retirement that’s to be funded by what are hopefully sufficient savings!

I therefore will repeat the title of the article hoping that some politician somewhere might actually read it and take it to heart…

‘Forget The Posturing And Political Games, We Have A Nation To Run!’

Related Article

Elections Have Consequences! (Opinion)

Michael Haltman is President of Hallmark Abstract Service in New York. He can be reached at mhaltman@hallmarkabstractllc.com.