PART 1:
POLITICS AS USUAL?

Everything is pretty on the outside and rotten on the inside. That is the core of politics. Heck, Grisham didn't lie! After a mere fourteen years on Earth, I realized that everything my seventh grade Social Studies teacher said was right! Human nature is normally selfish and uncaring. Take what's happening in African countries as an example. If their governments actually cared, none of the turmoil that's going on right now would have occurred. However, our parents have always chastised us for jumping to conclusions without listening to both sides of a story, so I actually sat down and talked to a legislator from my state of Georgia, Pat Dooley, to see if my presumptions were indeed correct.

"Everyone has their own agenda, " she says, "we (politicians) have our own goals and some don't care if they hurt others."

Score one for Machiavelli; use of dirty tactics to get what you want, while keeping the "good guy" façade to keep the people happy! Basically, we're electing politicians into office so they can run their personal agendas, and thus putting public interests and greater good aside. Other politicians only serve a small portion of the people, while the majority pays.

"My opponent wanted to reinstate pay day loans which would cause many people to file for bankruptcy faster," says Representative Dooley, a Democrat.

Meanwhile, I assume, somebody will be reaping in the benefits of this piece of legislation, while the average Chuck will live in a cardboard box. For the optimists reading this, this may be a bit much to stomach, but at least it should be reassuring to know from her that there are: "Good and compassionate people in the legislature doing public service."

It's the proverbial silver lining in the raincloud, there are enough legislators with common sense to keep the bad legislators in check. Maybe one day all the elected officials that we put into office will be more compassionate like this legislator that I talked to.

Oh schnap, it's late and I'm swamped with homework to catch up on, so looks like you'll have to wait for the second part of my interview with her where we talk about a seven-letter word that starts with an E and freaks people out. Know what it is? Check back for my second part of the interview with her.