Have to agree with you. I too have a slightly cynical view of politicians in general. However as with all things there are exceptions to the rule. Don't know whether it's the UK in particular or worldwide but we appear to delight in the negative rather than celebrating the positive. It's therefore much easier for a moaning voice to be heard than a happy one and it's the voters who call the tune to which politicians dance.
Of course our dear CAA did the industry no favours with an attitude to noise reduction that saw people having to take silencers off of imported aircraft before they could go on the G reg. If you go to some of the gliding sites and listen to their tugs with 4 bladed props and silencers you can see (hear) what is possible. Our regulators seem incapable of devising a system that encourages innovation without severe cost penalties. Too often the "safety" card is played with inadequate justification. The ongoing debate about hi-viz at GA airfields is a simple example.
The introduction of Star Annuals is another. CAA discovered that aircraft were being signed off, by engineers licensed by the CAA, when they were not in compliance with their C of A (unauthorised mods, AD's not complied with etc). Instead of finding out why this was happening and fixing it, which would have cost them money, they just introduced the Star Annual where the aircraft had to be taken to an M3 every 3 years, neatly shifting the cost for the failings of the airworthines sytem on to the owner rather than those responsible for it.
Mike