Politics are fascinating to watch, as the actors nicely display the forces at play in so many areas of society. Essentially, there is only two questions a politician needs to answer to himself: Am I fighting for the things I consider right and important? Or am I advocating for what makes me and my party most popular with the people?

Of course, ideally you can do both. In an ideal world you stand for values and ideas that your fellow citizens share. And it is those values and your competency to implement these ideas that will get you elected. But let's face it, if you get that position solely on your values and competencies you must have confused the sign-up sheet for the election with the application to the red-cross. And you're going to be a nurse in a refugee camp instead of a representative in your parliament.

Too cynical you think? You may be right. Many politicians enter the field because they want to do what they think is the right thing for their country. And to be fair, many of those people continuously stand by their values and fight for those things. But there is a force in any democratic system that puts pressure on those values - parties and elections.

For a party to be successful it has to appeal to a large number voters. Too extreme ideas are unlikely to do the trick. Hence, a certain pragmatism in the ideas that are being promoted by any party is to be expected. To be a successful leader of the party (and with that in some political systems get a shot at becoming prime minister), you will have to find a common ground among all your voters. You entered the party with all those great ideas and firm values - you may feel urged to trade some of them for a successful party career.

In other political systems you run for office by yourself (likely with the backing of a party) against other politicians. But the forces are likely to be the same. If you want to win and get the chance to implement your ideas, you will need a majority to vote for you. So what is it going to be now? Convincing a majority of people that your ideas are the most important ones for the country to prosper? Or moving slightly away from your "ideals" to get closer to the opinions of that majority?

Of course, it all depends on the particularities of the democratic- and electoral system. In a direct democracy, where people get to initiate and vote on single decisions, the parties and politicians should be expected to stick closer to their ideal positions. In a representative democracy, the dilution factor will likely be much higher.

An example is Marine Le Peine, who successfully repositioned her party and herself from the very far right to a much more center-right party and now directly competes with the republicans (Les Républicains). While her father never gave in to his ultra-right position, Marine makes the movement appeal to more voters in order to get more influence. Many commentators expected Trump to move away from his extreme stance - I guess that's the exception proving the rule here :)

Why is all this so interesting? Because those questions are not only important for politicians, but for all of us. We might go a certain direction following our values, but we will be tested again and again to abandon them. Starting with a one-time exception to achieve that one success. And then just that other one as well. And before we realize it, we have traded our values for what other people define as "success".

Values are what you keep holding up, despite them not gaining you more popularity. That's true in your personal life as well as in your career.

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Please share your comments and inputs (via comment function, twitter, e-mail, etc.). In my short write-ups I address topics that I am particularly interested in because they align with my values and beliefs. As such, they are always a reflection of my ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The only thing I am positive in that regard is that I do not have all the perspectives, all the knowledge, or all the facts - help me be better tomorrow.