Dunces and Muppets - Do Politicans Live in the Real World?

From time to time when I’m out and about, and usually when there has been yet another negative news item affecting the local population, I will hear someone say ‘Do councillors and politicians live in the real world?’
My immediate, and perhaps rather trite response, is usually ‘No, of course they don’t.’
What I really mean though is what do we understand by ‘the real world’?
We are all living daily with our own sense of reality, which will naturally be different for each and every one of us.
For many single parents their reality is how to make ends meet, juggling the finely balanced line between the need to work and finding affordable, reliable childcare.
For someone facing the loss of a loved one it is waking up each morning to face the day, acknowledging the awful realisation that their daughter, son, mother, father, spouse or partner is no longer there, and never will be except in their thoughts and memories.
In the case of youngsters, who for whatever reason are struggling at school, or trying to find a job, it is meeting the challenge of gaining academic qualifications or handling the consequences of unwanted peer pressure. Their reality may be coping with feelings of inferiority, not being able to live up to the expectations of others, or failing to meet the seemingly impossible high standards they have set for themselves.
There are many other examples, but what I think is really meant by the original comment is ‘to what extent do our elected representatives, at local or national level, have a ‘real understanding’ of the daily difficulties the man on the street faces in coming to terms with the increasingly complex society in which we now find ourselves?’.
Should our politicians, many of whom come from privileged backgrounds, know the price of a pint of milk or a loaf of bread; the standard white sliced variety consumed by the majority of the population, rather than the expensive ‘designer loaves’ at 10 times the price (not that I’m knocking such scrumptious hand crafter edibles)? I believe they should know what we're up against. It is when those that represent us become out of touch with what is going on in our lives it must surely result in key decisions being taken without due regard for the ‘real’ impact.
The cynic in me suspects, as we witness the entirely unsavoury spectacle of the leaders of our two main parties name calling each other like spoilt brats in the school playground, that many headline grabbing decisions are taken with the London centric ballot box in mind.
Given that less than half of those eligible to vote choose to do so, one can quite reasonably ask ‘Do our poiticians live in the real world’, or do they choose to be selective in their appreciation of another’s position?
One would hope not, but I fear this is certainly the case, so I stand by my original statement.
Sadly I believe that many who are elected to represent us do not live in the real world – as the rest of us know it.