If Ugandan Politicians Suck, then the Public Sucks Just As Much

George Carlin one of America’s greatest comedians, and social critic once spoke out;
“Now, there’s one thing you might have noticed I don’t complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians.

Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens.

This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders.

Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody: “The Public Sucks.”

Putting that note of George Carlin into light for a Ugandan audience, one gets to realize that actually, wherever you have American, you can as well replace it with Ugandan.

What the Ugandan Public needs is a dosage of self-flagellation. In blaming Politicians, the public forgets two important facts; “that they are first part of the public before they become politicians” and that “they were voted into power by the very public that complains about them.” A greater fact would be; “A Politician can never be any better than the people he leads.”

This calls for something bigger than just a habit of shuffling politicians in and out of power. The public needs to first raise its standards if it is to raise the standards of the politicians and the leaders.
From the men who boldly trespass while in the city, the ladies who litter without fear and even the taxi liars who claim to be in the village while speaking to someone on phone yet they are actually in town.

We all know of parents who bribe to have their children admitted into the top schools. We all know of the dishonest business men. Yet it is these people who wake-up and complain about the evils of the politicians. We live in an era where a corrupt public without any shame condemns corrupt politicians.
To get in better politicians, we must first of all, become a better public.

 There is no short-cut to this. A corrupt public can never produce an ethical and honest group of politicians. The politicians are but a reflection of the people they lead and represent. You got that right, the people they represent.