The reason politics doesn't make sense to you is that you don't understand what politics is about. It means different things to different people depending in their place and position within the society.
What the general public at larger perceives to be important is only material when the politicians are trying to get elected. The rest of the time, they do what they want: spend your money on the things THEY want.
This is why none of the problems society at large perceives are never addressed, the problems continue on as long as possible. Abortion- no one really cares about abortion in politics, but as long as they can get voters to vote for them based on what they say about abortion, they'll still talk and appear to do something about it, BUT THE IMPORTANT thing, is that NOTHING WILL GET DONE. As soon as the issue is resolved voters won't have that issue anymore and the politicians won't be able to use it to get elected!
The same thing is true with military spending, the war on drugs, using legal action to take more money from tobacco companies, addressing tariff issues with the countries we trade with, controlling spending, halting unnecessary military actions, etc.
Politics is about access to control, who has it, who doesn't, and who gets screwed when the authority misuses it's power.
