¿What motivates a regular neighbor?

What motivates a regular neighbor-mediocre-to become an experienced politician, keen to resolve all existing problems and nonexistent "in your community?

Most of my life I spent in a village on the southern coast of Guatemala, I know the idiosyncrasies of people inside the treatment colloquial, profiles, culture, and many features which later actions are not surprising therefore.

Log in partisan political activity is a way to aspire to dramatically improve or change the economic and social development of many, to put it in a folksy and shameless it is a form of "escape poverty", "if we can win the mayoral have to steal as much as possible in the shortest time, doing well to avoid the 'fish' to one." What about the academic profile of the candidate? A majority of candidates -according to their skills- not capable even to be hired by a neighbor grocery, then how to expect good results. Once again there are always exceptions.

On one occasion several years ago, talking with an acquaintance who worked in the municipal administration of a town, after earning their trust, I wondered why so many come forward to administer the public affairs of the municipality, what the reasons for ostentatious political campaigns, He explained the great economic benefits derived from corruption in the management of public money, since the end of the control is only an excuse to give some credibility to the waste of those funds, which are then divided into many hands. He explained that the funds are never sufficient, the secret is to have "good" allies as builders-owners, are often members of local councils through a family member, or the deputy on duty, on any work will have a price of up to three times its value so that it can allocate enough for all, the quality of the work is not important.

All this is public domain, information is filtered somehow, some benefit prying loose the history, the sudden improvement of economic level is almost impossible to hide, somewhat low self esteem of many officials betrays need compensation to be recognized by others and Splash! New brand cars, fashionable clothing, property, etc.

Reading the newspaper Prensa Libre, today, casually , says that most municipalities lack sufficient funds to meet debt payments . A table presents the ten municipalities with more revenue, only input of IVA, currently $ 42, 270,360.86 "they propose an increase to $ 82, 135,340.29 otherwise put pressure on congressmen, and which they say are "secure the support of President Colom”.