How to make "how does politics differ from business" better

Question

Brythan wrote a very good answer to exactly what I was asking.

However, I do not feel it was clear what I was asking.

So what would be some good improvement to my question?

Answer 1

Problems I see with this question.

I got the impression that middle classes in US and libertarians in general are great businessmen but poor politicians. And that is why they are libertarians. They're good at making money and hate anything "political" like welfare taking it away.

You are making a gross generalization about a whole population class. You make the accusation that anyone in the US middle class is a bad politician. You provide no facts to back up that claim (because it is likely not true but only your personal preconception).

And by the way "middle class" is usually not synonymous with "businesspeople" in the US. The majority of the people usually considered "US middle class" are salaried employees.

The whole question hinges on the unjustified preconception "the US middle class consists solely of businesspeople who are bad politicians" and "all businesspeople are libertarians". These are already very shaky premises. You can not prove it, and you are not even attempting to. You will also make anyone angry who is a business owner and feels miscategorized by you. Even though nobody has done so yet, I would not be surprised if a few "rude or abusive" flags would get thrown at your question.

What are some facts in the world where typical politicians can see miles away but businessmen cannot see?

Now you are asking for people to confirm your preconceptions.

I wonder if anyone can put like top 10 differences between politics and business.

What businessmen should know about politics? What aspects of politics most businessmen do not know?

As you know, we prefer questions on this website which can be answered with facts. "What are the top ten things businesspeople should know about politics" is completely opinion-based. It also asks us to look into the heads of millions of Americans.

Most businesses have utility function namely return of capital. What is the utility function of a state?

Now you are switching to a completely different question. This might in fact be a question we could answer based on political theory. But then...

Perhaps a better similar question would be, as a businessman, what political theory I should understand? What are so obvious for politicians that most businessmen do not see?

Now you are again asking something else. And again it's completely opinion-based.

You are rephrasing the question again and again, always in a way which means that an answer would need to be completely different. Please only ask one question. Rule of thumb: If you have more than one question mark in your question, then it is likely that people get confused which question they are supposed to answer.

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So to summarize:

1. Before you ask a question, do your research to verify that the preconceptions your question is based on are actually true. Share that research.
2. Think about how to summarize your question in one interrogative sentence. That should be the only interrogative sentence in your question.
3. Remember that Politics Stack Exchange is not a discussion forum. We are not here to discuss opinions. We are here to answer objective questions about politics and political processes. So we prefer questions which can be answered by citing factual sources, not by personal opinions and anecdotal observations.

Answer 2

Consider

How do political incentives differ from business incentives?

Politicians and business people react differently on many issues. Why is this?

Obviously, there will always be some individuals who try to run their business like a government or their government like a business. But it seems that on average, these groups react differently. What incentives encourage business people to act one way and politicians to act another?

You might move other questions like the utility function for a state and why politicians can lie and business people can't to other posts.

Answer 3

As one of the people who voted to close, I did so because it wasn't clear what this question was about. Right now it sounds like you are interested in forecasting. Previously you asked for more general differences between business and government. You had also included mixed discussions of utility, the movie "Saving Private Ryan", moral theory, classes....it was very difficult to tell what you wanted.

The question at the end ("What is the utility function of the state?") is an excellent question, but the rest of the text seems to be about something else.

I think there is an excellent subject at the center of this question, but it needs a lot of editing to make that point clear. My recommendations would be:

• read this post: How do I ask a great political theory question?
• edit your question so that it focuses on a single, answerable question. Make sure the elements of the question are focused and do not distract from your central point.