The term “bad politics” is thrown around quite a bit these days, and perhaps with good reason. We have seen it over the last couple of weeks in the media again over Sarah Palin’s selection as Governor of Alaska, but also in the resignation of California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (who happened to be running for President at the time.) In a way, both the current situation in California with the new Gov. Jerry Brown and the preceding situation in Alaska with former Gov. Palin have some lessons to learn for our country. There are many things that can and do get politicians into trouble in American politics. The most important lesson learned here however is that we can avoid the pitfalls of bad politics if we have a common sense strategy and if we have a really clear set of principles to which we stick.

One of the reasons why we seem to enjoy so much political drama in the United States, and the West more generally, is that there is a separation of powers in our government. Whereas fundamentally, all branches of government serve the same public purpose, in practice they tend to operate with an agenda of their own, often at the expense of the voters. In other words, they are elected for specific purposes, but the ultimate decisions are made by voters through the political system. This situation, ironically, provides free space for bad politics to occur because business leaders, who have more power than any other sector of government, have been corrupted by campaign cash and are now attempting to play political football.

One of the lessons that anyone who is serious about business must learn is that good and honest government, regardless of which branch is in charge, can only come from honest leaders. Without honesty, and the willingness to be held accountable, the institutions of governance will disintegrate and crumble. Just ask yourself this: if a business owner is questioned about the political motivations behind a particular deal, is he or she being honest? That’s why it’s so important that CEOs, business leaders, and all elected leaders develop an honesty policy and commit to it from the beginning of their political career.

Is America a nation of honest leaders? I’m afraid not. As we have seen throughout our history, America has sometimes put politics over principle, and the results have been corrupt leadership and bad politics. Not only was America once a shining beacon to the rest of the world, but it still is one of the greatest nations in the world. However, because of our penchant for bad politics, we have allowed our political system to become corrupted through the interests of special interests groups, and crony capitalism.

There are two schools of thought concerning the problem of bad politics. On the one hand, economists argue that bad politics is a symptom of bad economics. They point out that our political system tends to go along with the economy, and bad economic times do seem to affect our governing principles. Furthermore, there is some resistance to economists on the grounds that it is impossible to observe or measure political activities so there is no way to tell if bad practices are encouraged or discouraged. The other camp points out that both economic policies and politics are affected by the state of the economy.

The problem with this argument is that it falls apart when you examine what the two major parties support. Both Democrats and Republicans are committed to a strong national defense, massive infrastructure investments, social programs for the poor, and moderate social policies regarding sexuality and immigration. All of these programs are considered much too costly for most citizens, and even the Republicans acknowledge that fact.

Unfortunately, the only area where they agree is on carbon taxes. Economists all agree that increasing the cost of energy is a terrible thing, and that the only way to effectively address the problem is through carbon taxes. Unfortunately, both Republicans and Democrats support increasing the cost of energy through carbon taxes, despite the economists’ agreement. Unfortunately, this is perhaps the best example of “bad politics” – consensus politics. Politicians just decide to go with what their party happens to be supporting at any given time, regardless of what the real world results are.

It is also unfortunate that journalists continue to give coverage to arguments between Republicans and Democrats over national issues such as same-sex marriage and gun control. There is no debate among the Democrats and Republicans on these issues, so why is there a battle over the definition of bad politics? Is it truly bad if both parties support the same policy, albeit on somewhat different terms? If we can learn from the past and move forward by forging a bipartisan consensus on the most pressing political issues of our day, maybe we should take a cue from Europe and the United States and learn from the political coalitions here in Australia.