In their cocoons of power, Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi were not so different

Former President Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will run again in 2024. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said she won’t seek another leadership position.

You might be surprised to find there’s an area where Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi are exactly alike. They are/were nestled in their own cocoons of power. The walls of their cocoons (the fiber which is ego) are so thickened they are blinded as to how they could have better served their country. And that seems to be the bane of the powerful. How could it be any other way?

The powerful are by design (sometimes by necessity) insulated from the needs and opinions of those they are supposed to serve. Even in their everyday lives, some, with their own train of attendants as they are whisked away in special cars or planes, are naturally unapproachable. Moreover, as those in congressional positions of power grant themselves privileges, benefits and income like no other and jobs from which no one is internally fired, this opens the door to sub-par performance and corruption. On top of this, with powers affecting millions, how could such circumstances not nurture an extreme sense of self-importance?

But as the powerful become more powerful, as the wall of the cocoon thickens, I believe several things happen mentally that in the end hamper good stewardship. First, as the ego reflects on itself because it is not able to penetrate to the outside, one’s opinion — because it is unvetted and without interaction with varying ones — becomes supreme and not to be questioned. Second, as such protected opinions are calcified because of the present chasm between sides, any means necessary to further unchallenged opinions become the norm and lying becomes the means. And this ties in to the third consequence of the cocoon of power. Such a protected and heightened ego carries with it a naïve disregard about the opinions of others: that it is they who are naïve, who will believe lies, and when the lies are found out they won’t remember or care. Last, as each side creates its own collective cocoon, recalcitrant in their opposing positions, individual failure has no consequence because that reflects an error of hiring. As mentioned, this leads to corruption, as well as a form of coddling and sub-par performance.

But back to Trump and Pelosi.  What an absolute shame their tenure together became — a contest of egos. As a result, the people’s agenda was never maximized. But isn’t that the state of things with our political class? Within their protected cocoons of power, removed from the people they are to serve, unvetted, unchallenged opinions — even when they are found to do harm — will not be changed because this indicates an error of judgement reflecting negatively on heightened egos. If error cannot be admitted, how can change and improvement come about?

So where is the people’s agenda in all of this?  Who will break through their cocoon of power? When will our leaders begin to admit wrong, change course when needed, appoint based on merit, demote for poor performance, run the government like a business and revitalize the definition of congress: as a coming together of stewards of the public interest?

Patrick Scott Smith, M.A. is a history writer, inventor, and entrepreneur, from Nixa, MO.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Politicians put their ego ahead of voters, a recipe for corruption