When will the ministry start kicking butt and taking names?

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 146826

Steve wrote:
> That's typical of all powerful politicians, they are mostly interested
> in looking good and holding on to power, but they can never sully
> themselves with such mundane and dangerous things as solving the
> problems at hand.

Miles:
I agree to your characterisation of typical politicians' behaviour - we all
know these politicians, no matter what country we come from.
But "all powerful politicians"? No, really, no. Even without naming famous
counter-examples like Mahatma Ghandi (yes, he was a very powerful politician
even without any office), Shimon Peres or Nelson Mandela - we all know
examples of politicians with power/influence who always tried to do the
right and necessary things, sometimes at the expense of short time political
success.

Somehow I do not like JKR's characterisation of the Ministry. Up to now, we
didn't see a single "politician" in the WW that really tries to do the right
things. All of them we do know are like charicatures of politicians, and the
undertone of this is a bit problematic.
Most list members will be able to seperate a literal description of a
fiction Ministry and its politicians from real life. But if we try to see
the message of the HP series, to only have politicians without any
responsibility for anything apart from their own reputation may influence
the attitude of some readers towards democratic systems in general (even if
the WW is not a democratic society - but appears to be).

I would like to see a "good" politician in book 7 as much as a good
Slytherin (most politicians seem to be Slytherins...) - but stop, we saw
Slughorn, so part 2 of my wish is checked off.

Miles