Reflecting on the calibre of politicians, under much scrutiny of late, it appears that politicians enter the "game" for one of two reasons.

They are either driven by a vision to serve the community and bring about improvement, or seek power for a range of reasons - some noble and some not so noble.

Those driven by a vision soon find that in order to implement their vision, they need to align with one of the two major parties - the only mechanism able to deliver significant change. Once in the party, they find that their vision needs to be compromised in order to "protect", "enhance" or "maintain" the party in either opposition or government. Over time, visionaries and their visions become emasculated.

Therefore, the only effective politicians left are those who seek power - personal power from their individual positions within their respective Party, and Party power which enhances their personal power. An examination of government policy illustrates that much of it is formulated as a means to an end (i.e. the way to retain power), rather than because the government is there to serve its constituency. In such an environment, a government will only do the "right thing" when it doesn't compromise their power base (i.e. their electoral prospects).

The tragedy of this is that the constituency expects and deserves so much more from its politicians.