There are many reasons. Contempt and disrespect are right up there. Politicians were once ordinary people just generally a little lazier and a little more bent. This of course is a significant generalization as you will find occasional doctors and lawyers sitting in both provincial and federal governments. Both had to have money and ambition presumably along with hard work to get their degrees etc. Of course you will also get golf pros, their sons, drug dealers and all the rest sitting as M.P.s and M.P.P.s. Hence many of the lazy, unprepared for honest work politicians see others just like themselves sitting in legislatures and parliaments as well as on municipal councils and realize that citizens themselves are lazy enough and dumb enough to vote in riff raff. Hard to respect the public based upon the choices they make to represent themselves in government.
The public are occupied with keeping their jobs and hence salaries and wages. Non union work especially requires constant vigilance and watching which way the wind is blowing. More jobs are lost due to personality clashes than to inability to do the job. Citizens know that constantly toeing the line also means in non work matters and opinions that do not match your supervisor's or bosses. Political complacency by the public results from feeling detached from all decisions and having zero say in them. Again expressing strong political opinions at work can eventually lead to your head on the chopping block albeit employers are smart enough to dredge up some kind of pathetic work related excuse prior to dropping the axe.
Politicians have learned that voters have short memories and long loyalties. Most first time voters follow their parents footsteps. Voters only vote about every four years and in between it's all about keeping their jobs , raising families and if they are fortunate at today's prices, buying homes. Then there are school issues, bills, social lives and so many important, in your face matters on a daily basis.
Politicians do learn on the job. They learn how to lie via using weasel words and phrases that allow them to backtrack when necessary. Phrases like "when necessary" or "under the circumstances" gives them an out when their statements become ridiculous down the road. Quoting made up statistics that can never be checked such as "Canadians are fearful of gun violence" is a good example to justify whatever stupidity is the flavour of the day. Inventing crises is also a tool for ethically challenged politicians. So is using a legitimate crisis such as Tumblur Ridge in British Columbia. Odd how we learned that a disturbed individual committed firearms murders but we still have no knowledge as to why the authorities had returned those previously seized firearms to the family. Nor do we know if the "guilty" firearms used are on the government's banned list or not. All very strange how we the public are kept in the dark on important matters strongly related to current and ongoing highly criticized government initiatives and activities.
Politicians are masters at deflecting appropriate criticism. That unfortunately is their greatest strength.
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