SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | During a recent dinner, a visiting sheep farmer assured me he never reads or watches the news. We were discussing politics and he dismissed his lack of information about events even in his own country.

"The news is only about politicians and they're the lowest on the scale of respectability," he said, adding, "You journalists are down there with them. So why read that stuff?

I agreed about the respectability survey, noting that the poll reveals people's ignorance of politics, not their knowledge of it. Why read the survey?

The visitor proved his point by recounting a scandal in his country about cabinet ministers' fudged expense accounts. I do read the papers and knew the story, but in his version it became "All MPs", not just some cabinet ministers, and "That's what goes on all the time. That's why they're in politics."

He had a talk-radio version of the news, and was convinced this was the accurate story. He seemed not to know the difference between working journalists and entertainment-driven exaggeration. If he didn't read any papers, how would he know the difference between reputable, accountable reporting and gossip sheets?

But why the popularity of the talk-radio and supermarket tabloids' view that most politicians are crooks -- and stupid?

The visitor insisted there's no such thing as a good politician. Yet how could anyone say that Abraham Lincoln, Lester Pearson, George Washington, and Simon Bolivar were crooks?

President Obama has rekindled Americans' desire for change, and has rallied support for this effort. Surely these are examples of good politicians. We all want leaders, but leaders must be politicians first.

Secondly, political office is difficult work. Politicians labour exceptionally long hours, considering the files and background material, all the meetings and committees, and their long breaks are spent working with constituents back home.

There's little rest and plenty of stress. Voters, special interests, and supporters all make demands, often conflicting.

The job requires hours of reading and study. This is not work for stupid people. Many files and conflicts are exceptionally complex, yet politicians are expected to solve them quickly. They get blamed for any mistakes.

Their working conditions, fancy big buildings, lots of travel, are great for businesspeople or vacationers, but politicians spend their days under florescent lights in sterile rooms, meeting or studying, sitting in hearing rooms, meeting everyone who requests a meeting.

People can easily mock the intelligence of a president or prime minister, yet to get anywhere near those jobs requires incredible work, ambition -- and brains. Politicians may say stupid things now and then, and a few may get caught robbing the till. And that's enough for my friend who's convinced we've been voting only for stupid and thieving people.

Likely this man doesn't vote either. He covers his laziness by telling us that everybody he could vote for is a crook. And although a lot of people talk this way, their excuses aren't convincing either.

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Copyright © 2009 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/06.09