Looks like it’s election season again in the Kingdom for some political office or another. The campaign signs are back, plastered all over the power poles in the sois, so it got me curious.

What actually motivates someone to get into local politics? You spend weeks before an election driving around in the back of a pickup truck plastered with campaign posters featuring your own face, shouting through a megaphone and asking complete strangers to vote for you, all for a job that many candidates seem to have little obvious experience or qualifications for.

Then I started wondering how many of these people are actually well educated, have any education in administration or political science, or have a track record that suggests they’d be good at governing. Maybe some do, but it’s often hard to tell from the campaigns themselves.

And even if they do get elected, what actually happens after that? Do they end up getting anything meaningful done, helping the country in a tangible way, or improving people’s lives? Or do most of them just disappear into the system, collecting brown envelopes, until it’s time to campaign all over again?

In an ideal world, you’d like to think people get into politics because they genuinely want to serve the public and improve their country. But how much of that still exists? At least from the outside, it often looks like politics is more about status, influence, building connections, collecting favors, and moving up the social ladder than it is about public service.

Maybe I’m being too cynical, but that’s the impression I get. I’d be interested to hear from people who know more about Thai politics. Am I missing something, or is that basically how the game works?

IMHO, in every country in the world, no matter whether the politics are leftwing, centre or rightwing, 99.9% of the candididates are 'in it' only for themselves, for the money, the power, the kudos, the connections, the corruption etc. I regard almost ALL politicians as total leaches and I have never had the slightest interest in politics in my whole life....

35 minutes ago, 123Stodg said:

Looks like it’s election season again in the Kingdom for some political office or another. The campaign signs are back, plastered all over the power poles in the sois, so it got me curious.

What actually motivates someone to get into local politics? You spend weeks before an election driving around in the back of a pickup truck plastered with campaign posters featuring your own face, shouting through a megaphone and asking complete strangers to vote for you, all for a job that many candidates seem to have little obvious experience or qualifications for.

Then I started wondering how many of these people are actually well educated, have any education in administration or political science, or have a track record that suggests they’d be good at governing. Maybe some do, but it’s often hard to tell from the campaigns themselves.

And even if they do get elected, what actually happens after that? Do they end up getting anything meaningful done, helping the country in a tangible way, or improving people’s lives? Or do most of them just disappear into the system, collecting brown envelopes, until it’s time to campaign all over again?

In an ideal world, you’d like to think people get into politics because they genuinely want to serve the public and improve their country. But how much of that still exists? At least from the outside, it often looks like politics is more about status, influence, building connections, collecting favors, and moving up the social ladder than it is about public service.

Maybe I’m being too cynical, but that’s the impression I get. I’d be interested to hear from people who know more about Thai politics. Am I missing something, or is that basically how the game works?

Like everything in Thailand " MONEY "

3 hours ago, simon43 said:

IMHO, in every country in the world, no matter whether the politics are leftwing, centre or rightwing, 99.9% of the candididates are 'in it' only for themselves, for the money, the power, the kudos, the connections, the corruption etc. I regard almost ALL politicians as total leaches and I have never had the slightest interest in politics in my whole life....

Exactly. All about themselves.

I think many people get into politics because something ticks them off and they want to bring about change. Then they realize they are dealing with an entrenched club of people who are more interested in keeping their seats for the status.  

53 minutes ago, TedG said:

I think many people get into politics because something ticks them off and they want to bring about change. Then they realize they are dealing with an entrenched club of people who are more interested in keeping their seats for the status.  

I agree. Change are what many are aiming to achieve. Then they get into power and realize it’s either too dangerous or impossible to go against the establishment and change the status quo for all the others who are perfectly happy with how the corrupt and ineffective apparatus operates. Then they join the long history of non-achievers, collect their payoffs, and it’s off to the races.

58 minutes ago, TedG said:

I think many people get into politics because something ticks them off and they want to bring about change. Then they realize they are dealing with an entrenched club of people who are more interested in keeping their seats for the status.  

Independents want change but most who belong to major parties just want a nice pension and free lunches. 90% of them are just parasites.

29 minutes ago, 123Stodg said:

I agree. Change are what many are aiming to achieve. Then they get into power and realize it’s either too dangerous or impossible to go against the establishment and change the status quo for all the others who are perfectly happy with how the corrupt and ineffective apparatus operates. Then they join the long history of non-achievers, collect their payoffs, and it’s off to the races.

Then you have the purist swamp builders. They’re only interested in self-enrichment, starting wars, increasing the level of corruption, turning allies against themselves, consolidating power, and marginalizing the already marginalized masses even further.

And right now, you have a country north of Mexico and south of Canada taking those directives to levels the world has never seen before. Incredible levels. Tremendous levels. People are saying they’ve never seen anything like it. Even the best people say that.

Wow! Very intelligent answers above. So, you think that they do nothing, right? Sure, I agree to that they take a piece of the cake for themselves. However, you guys are out of order. You should try and see what happens to a country without any governmental control. That would be very suitable for you.

40 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Wow! Very intelligent answers above. So, you think that they do nothing, right? Sure, I agree to that they take a piece of the cake for themselves. However, you guys are out of order. You should try and see what happens to a country without any governmental control. That would be very suitable for you.

Don't the police and the courts sort out the bad guys?

Gaining local political power means gaining power over budgets. Budgets are there to have the top creamed off.

Gaining local political power means gaining power over decision making. Local political decisions affect people's lives and businesses. Think 'planning permits'. All decisions can be monetised or bartered for favours.

Gaining local political power is often the springboard to national political power. There are countless examples of political clans in Thailand that started by gaining control of a province.

30 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

Gaining local political power is often the springboard to national political power. There are countless examples of political clans in Thailand that started by gaining control of a province.

The path to wealth for those without skills is often found via entering national politics.

2 hours ago, Rockyroad said:

Don't the police and the courts sort out the bad guys?

As the goverment is corrupted like everyone say, then I guess if we take away that, then we would also not have a police force or courts.

3 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

You should try and see what happens to a country without any governmental control. That would be very suitable for you.

in 2018- 2020 Belgium went for nearly two years without a government. Please , tell us,what happened to the country , Why do you consider it would be "very suitable for us"? and yet presumably unsuitable for you,? Is it because you are special?

2 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

in 2018- 2020 Belgium went for nearly two years without a government. Please , tell us,what happened to the country , Why do you consider it would be "very suitable for us"? and yet presumably unsuitable for you,? Is it because you are special?

That is pure misconception. The reality is that during the mentioned time, Belgium had no fully empowered, democratically elected federal government. During this time, the caretaker government under Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès continued to manage the country.

That is the correct reality, that you missed to address. Was that information uncomfortable and unsuitable for you? It definitely didn´t make you special. 😂

If it were me.....£5,000,000 would convince me to have a crack.

Ego

Ego

Ego

Power

Money

It's the uniform. Anyone can dress up like a general!

On 7/1/2026 at 6:14 AM, Gottfrid said:

Wow! Very intelligent answers above. So, you think that they do nothing, right? Sure, I agree to that they take a piece of the cake for themselves. However, you guys are out of order. You should try and see what happens to a country without any governmental control. That would be very suitable for you.

Sounds very much like a dictatorship is suggested here?

1 minute ago, Surasak said:

Sounds very much like a dictatorship is suggested here?

Yeah, that might very well be the result, which is absolutely not good.

On 7/1/2026 at 12:37 PM, Bday Prang said:

in 2018- 2020 Belgium went for nearly two years without a government. Please , tell us,what happened to the country , Why do you consider it would be "very suitable for us"? and yet presumably unsuitable for you,? Is it because you are special?

Where? Belgium? A real player on the world stage.

Edited July 2Jul 2 by emptypockets

47 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Where? Belgium? A real player on the world stage.

Nobody mentioned that was a requirement . But don't be so quick to dismiss Belgium, Great Beer , Great chocolate, to name but two plus points , and a quick trip to "AI" will fill you in on the rest, I won't embarrass you by typing out the long list here, not because I care for your feelings , I don't, but I just cannot be bothered, there is just so much to type . And I believe that for members, cut and post of AI generated material is frowned upon So you will have to look for yourself ....enjoy you will learn something.

And I'm not even Belgian