M.I.C.E is an acronym I first discovered by reading Tom Clancy and representing Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego (MICE). Tom Clancy used this acronym for the reasons why spies become spies, I find MICE equally describes those seeking political office in democratically elected societies. Frankly, I think it is time to shift the paradigm on how and why we select politicians to represent us.
Money
There is a lot of money buying influence in politics. Interestingly, the money earned by a political representative is not the main reason for getting elected. The money these representatives are looking for and desiring is the purchase of influence. Consider Speaker Pelosi (D), 2018 she had assets of $257 Million, with $97 Million in liabilities, meaning that she has $1600 Million in assets. Speaker Pelosi (D) makes $223,500 annually. Pres. Biden has similar disparities between income and assets after liabilities. Many of America’s most infamous politicians have the same disparity between income and assets after liabilities. Purchasing influence is a massive business in politics. Does anyone still remember all the influence-peddling the Clinton’s did and continue to do? Even before they came to the White House, their influence-peddling was infamous!
Ideology
Ideology, according to Webster, is “a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.” What ideological processes define a Republican? What ideological processes define a Democrat? Are these ideological beliefs stable, or are they changing like dirty socks for clean socks? What can you observe about how ideology predicts behavior in the politician?
These are serious questions, as too often we, the American Citizen voting, cannot tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat. Worse, how often is what is said on the campaign trail thrown away the second the vote totals indicate a win? Sen. McCain (R) is a perfect example of this; his ideology and spinelessness led many of his constituents to ask why the difference between actions on the campaign trail and actions in political office.
Want to know how someone will act long-term; ask them to define their ideologies, for there is nothing better to predict behavior than ideology. How do you spot a thief in a crowd; ask them where they stand on taking a pen from a cashier after signing a check. Ideology is the penultimate method for predicting behavior, and not enough ideological emphasis is being placed upon politicians seeking office!
Compromise
Speaking of Sen. McCain (R), he was a legend on compromising. Unfortunately, Sen. McCain’s definition of a compromise included throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Compromise officially is defined by Webster as a method of settling a dispute through mutual concession [emphasis mine]! Each side makes concessions to reach an agreement that benefits both parties equally. As a point of reference, it is often said that a good compromise leaves everyone mad and disappointed. Yet, politicians continually abuse this word, manipulate their voters, and chaos ensues in the name of “compromise.”
Next time you hear a politician discussing compromising with the opposites on the side of the aisle, ask them what was given up reaching a compromise; if the giving was one-sided, it was NOT a compromise! Take any recent legislation, and you will find no compromise, lots of hands getting greased to purchase influence, and a ton of abused and injured voters!
Ego
The official psychological definition of ego is “the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.” However, the only people using this definition are missing the point. For the rest of the population, our definition of ego is much easier to understand. The ego is a person’s image of their own self-importance, and where politicians are concerned, narcissism (a thoroughly overinflated ego) describes a politician perfectly! Ego has been synonymous with self-conceit forever, and herein lies the problem where political leaders have been selected for too long.
Canada’s President Justin Trudeau, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President’s Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, and so many other world politicians fill the ego bucket with self-conceit and narcissism that we could run out of ink trying to print a complete list! Therein lies the answer, those desiring to hold public office should understand that ego plays a role in defining ideology, and ideology predicts future behavior. The natural order contains natural consequences, for these bitter self-conceited people hold onto power long after their ideas have turned to destruction, the harm they cause has reached epic proportions. The citizenry is numb from all the problems created by the egotistic politician.
While the book, authored by John Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men,” has little to do with this post, it does proclaim this post’s sentiment. There are MICE, and there are Men. MICE who desire to be controllers of their fellow men and men and women who resist and continue to strive to see justice done in their name by elected representatives. None of those for whom MICE applies should be allowed to hold elected office. The only way to ensure a change occurs is for voters to demand more information on character, ideology, and ego and watch carefully for selling influence.
It is past time for people to gather, stand, and insist upon better government representatives, including improved behavior from current sitting representatives. I weep for Germany’s neighborhoods destroyed by Merkle’s policies. Canada not only deserves better representation but cannot afford the government blight thrust upon her. France, Greece, you will have to change, fundamentally change, or your countries will be lost to history as failed experiments. America, what can I say that has not been said before; you need to understand what a Republic is, why a Republic is better than a Democracy, and you need citizens to awake and arise to the power they possess in cutting the strings to the millstone about your neck. The millstone of government is killing you, and if you die, the world will be lost!
© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.
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