Quote:
Originally Posted by Adder
Who? A consistent theme you hear if you do any political organizing/working with volunteers on advocacy, actually having contact with people in power is demystifying. People assume elected officials and their staff are smart/knowledgeable and impressive, but often they are not.
Personally, I think this also applies to business executives. Definitely applies to lawyers, even some very highly compensated ones.
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I agree. But I think it applies more in a locale like DC than in NY, Philly, Boston, even Baltimore.
DC is awash in cash and people who are full of shit. Nobody's doing serious deals in DC. The heavy lifting regarding financing and structuring is taking places where the adults work, in NY or Boston, or some similar city. In challenged cities like Philly or Baltimore, counsel has to provide value because the clients are nasty about paying.
In DC, however, it's jerkoffs going to lunch a lot and talking about policy and legislation. There aren't many measurable metrics, because even the best lobbyist or lawyer-playing-lobbyist can't control the politics. Nobody is really accountable for anything.
Talking to DC counsel and NY counsel is night and day. One guy's full of fluff and another has to get to the point because he has three more calls in the queue. In DC, people still wear suits all the time. There's still en emphasis on "the show." What professional wears a suit these days unless he has to be in court?
You are correct - the rot starts at the top. Any common jackass can run for office, and as voters are increasingly tribal, and of a "low information" character, being uninformed and saying and thinking dumb things is actually kind of an asset. So we've a collection of middle-intellects (being generous) in office, a number of whom are senile or close to it (which is a whole other issue) and a bunch of professionals servicing them. I don't know about you, but if I've a dolt for a client and I know my results can't be measured, I'm not going to provide the effort or quality of thought I would for a client who was aggressively measuring the success of my efforts. I'd get lazy, as I was when I worked in a large firm. If a person can cruise, they will.
And cruising is all anyone does in DC. If you can think, if you're fast with numbers, or have a penchant for innovation, the town is hell. The people driven to it are those who want to wear suits, twist arms at lunches, and practice "government lawyering" (dicking around with policy issues). There's nothing wrong with that, of course. But it's not said enough, and it needs to be said: Washington DC is an intellectually mediocre city of ineffective people, most of whom couldn't survive if they weren't swimming in a pool of cheap and easy govt money.
The town deserves no respect.
