Politicians should pursue common ground and reasonable consensus rather than elusive ideals Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take In de

Politicians should focus on ideas that uplift the condition of the people and simultaneously build the nation on a global perspective. While in order to do so, they inevitably need to pursue common ground and reasonable consensus, but it does not necessitate the rejection of lofty ideas that serve to build the nation and strategically consolidate its position in the globe. In the following paragraphs, several examples as to how elusive or lofty ideals eventually lead to the progress of a nation is enumerated.
It makes sense for politicians to pursue goals that tend to be economically and socially beneficial to the nation. While immediate concerns pertaining to economic disparity and energy requirements need prioritised attention, long term investments into new technologies serve to consolidate the future prospects of the people. For example, the efforts of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, during his tenure as the Prime Minister of India, led to the development of nuclear energy and India being established as a nuclear power. Though, development of nuclear energy has been adversely related to weapons of mass destruction, Vajpayee was unyielding in following his ideas in order to position India as a growing economy in the world, sometimes against the common ground taken by his peers.
While ideas proposed by politicians affiliated to a particular party are not necessarily accepted by his counterparts with different affiliations, it does not mean that these ideas serve to be detrimental on a long-term basis. For example, the new Indian government elected to power in 2014, reduced the subsidy allotted to household LPG connections over the years to a bare minimum. This was met with a lot of criticism by the oppositional political parties but eventually this reduced the loss of revenue from government treasury that was predominant in the earlier years. Furthermore, people became more judicious towards usage of cooking gas due to increasing costs and hence the country saw a decline in usage of petroleum-based products.
Elusive ideals often lead to development of resources that reduce a country’s dependence on import of manufacturing and retail products. For example, the Indian government came up with a subtle strategy of incentivising new initiatives in the manufacturing sector, through the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This led to a meteoric rise in the start-up ecosystem prevalent in the country and reduced its dependence on import of goods, mostly in the electronic, consumer goods and software sectors. Another recent development was the announcement of the CHIPS Act in the United States. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 scenario, organizations developing technologically advanced chips experienced a disruption in the supply chain of raw materials used for production of integrated circuits. In order to reduce their dependence on import of such material, the US government strategized a new plan whereby additional manufacturing plants catering to the indigenous requirements are to be set up. This required additional budget and investment that are likely to produce long term benefits rather than immediate ones.
In brief, it is not necessary that politicians need to follow the common ground while pursuing elusive and lofty ideas. It may so happen that people are oblivious to the long-term benefits of such goals. As such reasonable consensus may not even be possible given the dynamics of such goals. However, following such elusive goals might serve to be crucial in stabilising the country’s economy and self-reliance. While prioritised attention should be given to immediate concerns by politicians, I conclude that often following elusive and lofty ideals lead to significant prospects.