Does the U.S. hold politicians to higher or lower standards than it did 20 years ago?

23 comments

1. As people? No. In terms of doing a good job of a politician? Also no.

2. Standards in terms of what?

3. Politicians now have no standards. Twenty years ago was better. The Reagan Era was probably the last time standards were anywhere near what they should be

4. I think it’s too soon after Trump to say for sure.

5. The number of times I’ve see a politician do something that should be career-ending and suffered no consequences in the last six years alone is so high I have stopped counting.

   Howard Dean made a weird scream and it ended his campaign. Trump did [insert fucking anything from his campaign here, really] and won the fucking presidency.

6. Much. Lower. Once upon a time, they had to have experience.

7. [deleted]

8. I always wonder this bc I’m 25 now and I remember when the president and being a politician was like??? Respected lol my family hated Bush w a burning passion but I still remember us being like IT’S THE PRESIDENT THOOOOO. My first election to legally vote in was Clinton and Trump and I remember talking w people about Obama vs Romney but even then it was just mild jokes between people, nothing serious… clinton and trump was like extreme? And soooo dividing

9. I don’t know. I expect them to be trash humans and they are.

10. There is no standard.

    Like money not backed by gold, our standards are not genuinely ours

    Our heads bob up and down on puppet strings by the media who tell us who to hate. The standards changing over decades are merely a function of media telling us, like a light switch.

    If they seem more brazenly contradictory then that’s because they are.

11. Well, Rep. Preston Brooks did nearly beat Rep. Charles Sumner to death on the senate floor in 1856. The senate only made a resolution that Rep. Brooks “should have used a different weapon”.

    So … I’d argue that politicians are held to a higher standard these days. At least we don’t get politicians attempting to openly murder each other any more.

12. Lower, I’m afraid. Stuff that would end a political career back then is shrugged off, now. (not always, but in enough cases)

13. Depends on what side you’re on.

14. We don’t hold them to standards. We just confirm our own biases and got out of fear

15. Lower

16. I hold them all in contempt, if that counts.

17. Waaaaay loooowwweerrr

18. Lower

    Much lower

19. Its a much lower standard today. Biden is an old politician who’s been around since the Nixon years, but when we look at Kamala, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Corey Booker, Beto O’Rourke, Gavin Newsom, Bill de Blasio, Alexandria Cortez, Chris Christie, Trump, Lindsey Graham, Eric Garcetti, Gretchen Whitmer, Psaki, Huckabee Sanders, and so so many more, you will notice that the biggest politicians are clownish populists that are gung ho in creating a brand for themselves and amassing power

20. Standards? What standards. Total shit show.

21. Lower. Much, much lower.

    I remember the renting of cloth/foaming of mouths during Carter’s run for the presidency. Carter is a deeply religious man, for reference. During an interview, he spoke of having ‘lust in his heart’ (as most sentient humans do) and you’d think he’d fucked a ferret right there on national television, the way people reacted.

    Clinton impeached – IMPEACHED – for an extramarital affair.

    But our idiot country found Trump, who is a predator and OPENLY ADMITS, WITH PRIDE, THAT HE GROPES WOMEN, worthy of our highest office.

    So yeah, I’d say our ‘standards’ have fallen.

    And I’d say the same when it comes to standards such as education, experience, and anything else that would be a measurement of a strong public servant. I mean, Bush gave us CLARENCE FUCKING THOMAS as the successor to THURGOOD MARSHALL for fuckssakes.

22. Much much lower. They are the same slime balls they always were but now all the BS they pull is out in the open.

23. Pure democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is the lamb is well armed contesting their vote. – Ben Franklin
    I’d say it’s about the same tbh. The only thing that changed was how leadership is attempting to hide their evil in convoluted ways. I think it was more secretive in the early 2000’s, and now it’s a conspiracy to believe them. So I guess they kinda weaponized their evil ways to make whoever tries to speak out a target.