A “corporate whore who fakes compassion to gain the trust of the general public” is one of many colorful definitions you’ll find on Urban Dictionary when you search the word “politician.” Webster just says it’s “a person experienced in the art or science of government.”Several individuals have come through government who actually deserve descriptions like “who so desires power that they have lost all notion of morality and will now do or say anything to acquire more power.” Regardless of the evil in a few, the majority of them aren’t so bad, but, some way or another, politicians have gained this rotten reputation.Since the profession is so hated, why would anyone want to study what they do? During fall 2009, LSU had 435 of these brave souls, willing to stand the hate, studying political science. What are they studying that makes them so hated? My answer is that it’s not what they’re studying; it’s that they’re studying.George Washington and company didn’t know squat about interest groups in American politics (POLI 4032) or gender and American politics (POLI 4028). They would probably laugh at either of these two classes. “Wait, not only do women get to vote, but there are actually classes that study how they affect government?” I can hear the bigotry now. This is neither a shot at women nor a shot at Washington. The men who started the country were behind on two issues for sure— hair styles and dental hygiene — I mean, slavery and female suffrage.Besides those two shortcomings, they were pretty advanced in their thought processes, and they took some dangerous steps to ensure our existence as a state — the founding fathers were more like philosophers with guns than scientists studying the inadequacies of their current government.The politicians of today seem more interested in what their constituents think about them than what the constituents think. Happy constituents translate into job security. With six figures on my pay check, I’d make that a priority too.No, all politicians aren’t bad, but we see how childish our current elected officials are acting right now. If they’re products of the education provided in political science … yikes.Another point is that the fault does not and cannot rest entirely in the hands of politicians. My colleague, Daniel Morgan, advocated apathy toward politics last semester. His points are quite convincing.It seems your participation in an election or any type of vote wouldn’t change the outcome no matter what. It’s a reality of the tremendous population in America. Fifty-one percent of 4.4 million (Louisiana’s approximate population) is still 2.24 million, and that’s a lot of people to have thinking the same way about one thing. Of course that’s counting    under-aged citizens and people who don’t ever vote. People don’t participate, and many who do participate shouldn’t.This is a major problem. Democracy is vulnerable to one human characteristic — stupidity. Stupidity is the weapon that can bring a democratic country to its knees. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn’t need nuclear weapons to end America. With sports, bad music and bad entertainment melting the intellect of our populous, we’ll take care of ourselves.It’s the same problem as in junior high, high school or college student elections — they’re popularity contests. It’s easier to measure someone’s appearance and personality than what’s in their head, so vote for the prettiest.People don’t cast their votes based on logic, so politicians have to worry about their opinions on essential issues like the “necessity” of funding for postsecondary education. Legislators could just vote to amend the constitution and protect higher education and health care without concern for their re-election.Of course it would have to attain support from 51 percent of voters, but the ones who know better would probably show up. Maybe that’s too optimistic.Matt Lousteau is a 20-year-old mechanical engineering junior from Laplace. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mlousteau.
 
 
 
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