Jamesy wrote:
How come the parties don't always know what policies are best?
I think that's not the right question to ask.
No one ever really knows what will be 'best' in terms of governmental policies, though many claim to, because that's impossible for anyone to really know as it would require knowledge of everything and the understanding of what that knowledge meant, and no one has access to that.
I think the right question is why don't governments implement policies that are the most effective in helping, rather than hurting people.
The answer is simple: they are, for the most part, more interested in their own narrow, selfish interests than in the intrests of their populations as a whole.
This seems to have always been the case, and imho it will continue to be until instead of olgiarchies (rule by few), our societies become true democracies (rule by many, or all) where everyone has an equal say in the laws that are passed and the policies that are implemented.
Just my 2 cents...